Mahmood's phenomenal performance with the willow in the last season has helped him retain his fourth place in the standings which are led by Sri Lankan ace Aravinda de Silva.
Closest Pakistanis to Azhar Mahmood are Saeed Anwar (11th), Aamir Sohail (15th) and Inzamamul Haq (19th).
In the bowling, Waqar Younis slipped three places down and is now 10th. His new ball partner Wasim Akram is fifth and Mushtaq Ahmad is 12th.
The batting standings are dominated by four Indians in top six positions. Sachin Tendulkar is second followed by Navjot Sidhu (3rd), Rahul Dravid (5th) and Saurav Ganguly (6th). Mohammad Azharuddin is 14th.
The following is the latest standings, based on the past two years:
Batting
1-Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) 20 Tests-34 innings-5 not outs-1,801
runs-62.10 average
2-Sachin Tendulkar (India) 23-37-2-2,069-59.11;
3-Navjot Sidhu 12-18-0-1,061-58.94;
4-Azhar Mahmood (Pakistan) 11-16-4-628-52.33;
5-Rahul Dravid (India) 22-35-3-1,643-51.34;
6-Saurav Ganguly (India) 20-31-2-1,483-51.14;
7-Alec Stewart (England) 25-45-3-2,101-50.02;
8-Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) 20-35-1-1,604-47.18;
9-Grant Flower (Zimbabwe) 14-27-1-1,195-45.96;
10-Carl Hooper (West Indies) 21-35-6-1,278-44.07;
11-Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) 18-29-1-1,223-43.68;
12-Steve Waugh (Australia) 22-37-3-1,478-43.47;
13-Gary Kirtsen (South Africa) 23-42-5-1,608-43.46;
14-Mohammad Azharuddin (India) 23-36-4-1,377-43.03;
15-Aamir Sohail (Pakistan) 11-16-2-594-42.43;
16-Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) 19-32-3-1,212-41.79;
17-Stephen Fleming (New Zealand) 17-31-2-1,206-41.59;
18-Inzamamul Haq (Pakistan) 17-25-2-951-41.35;
19-Daryll Cullinan (South Africa) 19-33-4-1,195-41.21;
20-Mark Waugh (Australia) 24-42-3-1,592-40.82
Bowling
1-Allan Donald (South Africa) 20 Tests-764.5 overs-2117 runs-109
wickets-19.42 average;
2-Glenn McGrath (Australia) 18-717.4-1795-88-20-40;
3-Curtly Ambrose (West Indies) 19-611.3-1475-71-20.77;
4-Jason Gillespie (Australia) 9-228.2-713-32-22.28;
5-Wasim Akram (Pakistan) 12-442.4-1181-52-22.71;
6-Angus Fraser (England) 9-288.2-707-33-23.33;
7-Simon Doull (New Zealand) 13-434.1-1178-50-23.56;
8-Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 18-1043-2499-106-23.58;
9-Shaun Pollock (South Africa) 18-623.5-1540-64-24.06;
10-Waqar Younis (Pakistan) 15-510.5-1626-67-24.27;
11-Darren Gough (England) 11-370.3-1159-45-25.75;
12-Mushtaq Ahmad (Pakistan) 17-834.3-2267-88-25.76;
13-Paul Riffel (Australia) 14-422.2-1060-41-25.85;
14-Andrew Caddick (England) 13-445-1361-51-26.69;
15-Shane Warne (Australia) 23-1112.1-2886-106-27.23;
16-Franklyn Rose (West Indies) 10-245.1-738-27-27.33;
17-Javagal Srinath (India) 14-580-1784-63-28.32;
18-Dean Headley (England) 10-324.5-1059-37-28.62;
19-Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) 9-321.4-780-27-28.89;
20-Chris Cairns (New Zealand) 17-465-1512-52-29.08.