Riding on her stellar batting performances at the just-concluded World Cup, India’s Harmanpreet Kaur on Tuesday broke into the top 10 of the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings, PTI reported.
Kaur’s swashbuckling 171 not out helped India defeat Australia by 36 runs in the semi-final and she followed that with a fighting 51 in the final against England. These performances helped her improve seven slots to sixth place in the latest ranking.
She is now the second India batter to feature in the top after Mithali Raj, who is ranked second - 10 points behind Australia captain Meg Lanning. Australia’s Ellyse Perry is third, trailing Raj by 12 points.
Apart from Kaur, Poonam Raut has gained five slots to reach 14th position after scores of 86 and 14 in the final and semi-final respectively, while Veda Krishnamurthy has gained seven slots to reach a career-best 26th position following scores of 35 in the final and 16 not out in the semi-final.
Among bowlers, world’s leading ODI wicket-taker Jhulan Goswami has gained four slots to reach second position and within four points of South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp after figures of 3-23 in the final and 2-35 in the semi-final.
Goswami’s new-ball partner Shikha Pandey (up one place to 12th) and leg-spinner Poonam (up six places to a career-best 28th) are other India bowlers to move up.
Among others, England fast bowler Anya Shrubsole has broken into the top 10 of the Women’s ODI Player Rankings for the first time in her career after playing a star role in the knockout phase of the ICC World Cup which culminated with her side’s nine-run win over India in the final last Sunday.
Shrubsole has moved up nine slots to a career-best seventh position after her player of the match effort of six for 46 in a thrilling final before a packed to capacity crowd. Shrubsole had also picked one for 33 in the semi-final against South Africa, which her team won by two wickets.
Other England bowlers too had much to cheer about in the latest rankings, which took into account the semi-finals and final of the eight-team tournament played across five venues in the United Kingdom.
Laura Marsh has gained one place to move to 19th position, while Jerry Gunn has moved up two places to 20th spot.
Among the England batters, Sarah Taylor has progressed three positions to 12th rank after notching up 54 in the semi-final and 45 in the final.
Taylor, who was chosen as the wicket-keeper in the team of the ICC Women’s World Cup announced on Monday, aggregated 396 runs to finish fourth in the list of run-scorers in the tournament.
South Africa players have made significant gains with Mignon du Preez’s 76 not out against England lifting her six places to a career-best 11th position and opener Laura Walovaardt has gained three positions to reach a career-best 19th rank.
Among the South Africa bowlers, Ayabonga Khaka has moved up five places to a career-best sixth position and leg-spinner Sune Luus has moved up one place to 22nd in the list.
As for the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s Team Rankings, which take into account both ODIs and T20Is, there was no change in positions with Australia retaining top spot at 128 points.
England has gained one point to reach 125 in second position, while New Zealand and India remain on 118 and 113 points, respectively. The West Indies (105), South Africa (93), Pakistan (73) and Sri Lanka (67) follow.
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