Dubai: India opener Smriti Mandhana broke into the top three of the ICC Women’s T20I batting rankings, attaining the third position on the chart updated on Sunday.
The left-handed was India’s highest scorer, with 72 runs in the three-match dismal series 0-3 against England. With 698 points, she took the place of West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin, who moved up a spot to second place.
Former New Zealand captain Suzie Bates continued to hold down the top spot, with 765 points, extending the gap between her and the second-placed Dottin to 38 points.
The rest of the top-five remained unchanged, with Australia captain Meg Lanning retaining the fourth position with 695 points, followed by Stafanie Taylor, who trails by a point.
Mandhana’s team-mate Jemimah Rodrigues, on the other hand, took a tumble to the sixth position. The young 18-year-old totalled just 15 runs in the series against England.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who missed the England series owing to an ankle injury, went down two spots to number nine, allowing New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine to climb to seven, followed by Australia wicket-keeper Beth Mooney. Mooney’s team-mate Alyssa Healy retained her position to round off the top ten.
Meanwhile, England wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor fell six places to number 24, as did team-mate Jenny Gunn, who slipped to 61. Lauren Winfield, however, moved up eight places to 45. India all-rounder Deepti Sharma moved up five places to settle at the 71st position.
The biggest mover was England leg-spinner Sophia Dunkley, who barged into the top 100 by moving 16 places to 86th position. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar went out of the top 100, tumbling 11 places to 103.
There were significant changes among the bowlers too. Australia pacer Megan Schutt and India leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, the top two positions in the bowlers’ charts, Ellyse Perry, the Australia all-rounder, moved up one spot to attain number three, followed by New Zealand off-spinner Leigh Kasperek, who was fourth after jumping two places.
Indian spinner Radha Yadav moved up five positions and is now number five in the bowlers’ rankings, level with South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail, resulting in England fast bowler Anya Shrubsole sliding two places to take seventh place. Her team-mate Sophie Ecclestone, also took a massive tumble, falling seven places to number 10.
Deepti was another to have a poor time of it against England, and she fell ten places to number 24 after the latest update. However, England fast bowler Katherine Brunt rose 12 places and is now at number 35.
The all-rounders’ charts were largely unchanged – Dottin still leads the charts, and Bangladesh off-spinner Salma Khatun rounds off the top ten. However, West Indies off-spinner Hayley Matthews has displaced England pacer Natalie Sciver at number six.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]