Harmanpreet Kaur and Shafali Verma make huge gains in the ICC rankings after Asia Cup heroics

India Women National Cricket Team batters Harmanpreet Kaur and Shafali Verma have been rewarded for their performances in the T20I cricket of late. The duo made substantial gains in the ICC rankings for the women's T20 batters on Tuesday (23rd July).

Harmanpreet Kaur and Shafali Verma have been in decent batting form with the bat in the ongoing Women's Asia Cup 2024. Their contributions with the bat in the games have made both bag the 11th position in the ICC rankings for women's batters after their performances in the game against Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Shafali Verma scored 40 runs in India's opening game against Pakistan in the Asia Cup. She played a brutal knock and helped her team win the game by 7 wickets. After that in the game against United Arab Emirates, she scored 37 runs and helped her team post a big total on the board of 201 runs.

On the other hand, Harmanpreet Kaur played an unbeaten innings of 5 runs against Pakistan. But the India Women captain brought her best with the bat in the United Arab Emirates. The middle-order batter scored an unbeaten 66 runs and helped her team win the game and register two consecutive games.

Apart from the duo, India wicketkeeper batter Richa Ghosh also moved up 4 spots to take over the 24th position in the rankings. She played a magnificent innings in the game against the United Arab Emirates as he scored an unbeaten 64 runs off 29 balls and helped her team post a total of over 200. She also won the Player of the Match award.

Smriti Mandhana also retained her 5th spot in the T20I rankings. She scored a 31-ball 45 against Pakistan in their tournament opener and then followed it up with a 13-run knock in the game against the United Arab Emirates. She would be keen to contribute more and improve her rankings. Bangladesh star Nigar Sultana also rose two spots to 17. She made gains following her 48* against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka bowlers made huge gains in the ICC rankings

Sri Lanka off-spinner Inoshi Priyadharshani has advanced three places to achieve her career-best ranking. She bagged 4th position in the rankings after taking two wickets against Bangladesh and one against Malaysia. Apart from her, Bangladesh's Murshida Khatun climbed six places to 47th after her decent performances.

Sri Lanka's Vishmi Gunaratne jumped 7 places to 51st, and Thailand's Nattaya Boochatham climbed 10 places to 76th in the batting rankings. Nahida Akter has risen nine places to 21st and along with her Marufa Akter moved to the 26th spot in the rankings.

Sri Lanka's Udeshika Prabodhani also claimed the 30th spot. While India's Shreyanka Patil moved 19 places to 41st. In terms of all-rounders, Australia's Beth Mooney remained as the No.1 ranked T20I batter in women's cricket as there was no change inside the top 10.