The International Cricket Council (ICC), cricket’s global governing body, announced on Tuesday that Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal has held onto her top position in the latest ICC women’s T20I bowler rankings.
Sadia secured the leading spot among T20I bowlers with 746 rating points. The top of the rankings is tightly contested, with only 44 rating points separating the top 10 players; Afy Fletcher, positioned at 10th, has 702 points.
England pacer Lauren Bell climbed two spots to reach a career-best fourth place on the latest T20I bowler rankings after claiming three wickets in the recent Nottingham clash, as reported by the ICC. Nashra, ranked 8th, and Australia’s Georgia Wareham, ranked 9th, both share the same rating of 704.
Meanwhile, a star India left-hander is closing in on the top ranking for T20I batters, while a pair of South African players have made gains following the conclusion of their series against the West Indies.
India opener Smriti Mandhana has been rewarded for her recent century against England by achieving a new career-high rating on the updated ICC Women’s T20I Batter Rankings. Mandhana, who is currently the No. 1 ranked ODI batter, put England to the sword with a superb innings of 112 in Nottingham recently. This performance helped the left-hander gain one place, moving her to third on the latest rankings for T20I batters. It also saw Mandhana reach a new career-best rating of 771 points, placing her within just 23 points of the No. 1 ranked player, Beth Mooney, at the top of the T20I batter charts.
Fellow Indian opener Shafali Verma gained one place to move to 13th on the same rankings list after her innings of 20 in the match against England, while teammate Harleen Deol re-entered the batter rankings at equal 86th after a quickfire knock of 43.
The final match of the T20I series between the West Indies and South Africa also saw several players make progress in the latest rankings. Proteas young gun Miane Smit notably jumped from well outside the top 100 to 76th on the list for T20I batters following her half-century in that clash.
There are also gains for former South Africa skipper Sune Luus, who climbed nine spots to 31st on the list for T20I all-rounders after a decent all-round effort with both bat and ball in the Cave Hill match. Unfortunately, there are no Pakistani batters among the top 35 players in the T20I rankings.
