Pakistan aim to consolidate third position in Test rankings

Third-ranked Pakistan have a chance to reduce the gap further on second-ranked Australia in the ICC Test Team Rankings when they face New Zealand in the three-Test series that starts at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi Sunday.

A 3-0 series win over New Zealand will earn Misbah-ul-Haq's side five ratings points, thus reducing Australia's lead to seven points.

A 2-0 win for the hosts will see them reduce the deficit to nine points, while a 1-0 victory will see Pakistan gain a solitary ratings point.

A drawn series will result in Pakistan swapping positions with England, while New Zealand will improve their rankings point by one.

In contrast, a one-nil victory for seventh-placed will New Zealand see them leapfrog India into sixth position with Pakistan dropping to fifth. A 2-0 win will push New Zealand into fifth place with Pakistan slipping to sixth spot.

South Africa's current seven-point lead at the summit will not be affected, however, the top of the table could see movement when South Africa welcome the West Indies in a three-Test series, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's India travel Down Under to face Australia in a four-Test series. Both the series start next month.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan has become the top-ranked all-rounder in the ICC Players Rankings for Test All-Rounders after joining the exclusive company of England's Ian Botham and Imran Khan of Pakistan by scoring a century and taking 10 wickets in a match against Zimbabwe.

In doing so, Shakib displaced India's Ravichandran Ashwin and has also moved up six places to 30th in the batting rankings and four places to a career-high 14th position in the bowling rankings.