India opener Smriti Mandhana continued to maintain top spot in the International Cricket Council one-day International batting charts while skipper Mithali Raj remained fifth in the list released by the game’s governing body on Monday.
Mandhana is leading the pack with 774 rating points, ahead of Australia duo of Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning.
New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite is placed fourth, just ahead of Raj. The other Indians to feature in top-20 are Deepti Sharma, who jumped a place to 17th and Twenty20 International skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who took the 19th spot.
West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor has advanced by two places and grabbed eighth position. A number of players from Pakistan and South Africa have also moved up in the rankings after winning their respective ICC Women’s Championship series.
Taylor led the list of run-getters with an aggregate of 158, including two fifties in the series that helped Pakistan overtake the West Indies in the points table of the eight-team championship, which allows direct qualification berths to hosts New Zealand and four other top teams in World Cup 2021.
South Africa are in contention for a direct berth after completing a 3-0 triumph at home over Sri Lanka, a verdict that has helped them to catch up with the fifth-placed West Indies on 11 points. The Proteas women, however, are behind the Windies on net run rate.
Pakistan’s victory over the West Indies has lifted them to 12 points and they are now in the fourth spot, just behind India on the net run rate. Australia lead the pack with 16 points from only nine matches and New Zealand second at 14 points from 12.
Among bowlers, veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami is the best-placed Indian at the third spot behind Megan Schutt of Australia and Pakistan’s Sana Mir, who is leading the pack.
Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav are two other Indian bowlers figuring at the top-10 at eighth and ninth positions respectively. Sharma also features in the all-rounders chart at a career-high third spot. Perry is at the top of the list, followed by West Indies’ Taylor.
No Indian woman has reached the top spot among all-rounders as all the former captains – Goswami (in July 2015), Purnima Rau (December 2000) and Shubhangi Kulkarni (January 1986) have scaled to the second position.
The upcoming India-England series can be crucial in the final standings while defending champions Australia host second-placed New Zealand.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!