Smriti Mandhana conquers world cricket, becomes No.1 batter in ICC rankings

Smriti Mandhana has been one of the finest women cricketers in world cricket. The India Women's National Cricket Team vice-captain recently won the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 as a captain with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). This is her second WPL title in the span of three years. She was in top form during the Women’s ODI World Cup in India.

Smriti has now been ranked as the No.1 ODI batter in the Women’s International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings. The Southpaw had a sensational 2025, scoring 1703 runs for India, with 1362 in ODIs. She made a new record in both men’s and women’s international cricket last year.

Smriti Mandhana, the queen of cricket

In the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup, Smriti Mandhana was the leading run scorer for the India Women's National Cricket Team and the second-highest overall, with 434 runs in 9 innings. She had an average of 54.25 in the tournament and also scored two fifties and one century.

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🚨 SMRITI MANDHANA - THE NEW NUMBER 1 ODI BATTER IN WOMEN'S RANKING 🚨

- The Queen of Indian Cricket. 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/5mHJt2xq0a

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 3, 2026

Mandhana continued her form in the 2026 scoring one fifty in the last three ODIs. This has been the reason she has been ranked as the No.1 ODI batter with 790 points, surpassing Laura Wolvaardt, who also has the same points as Mandhana. But the latter will have the opportunity to reclaim the spot when the Proteas take on New Zealand across March and April.

In 2025, Smriti Mandhana broke some records. The 1362 runs were the most by a woman in a single calendar year. She was the first woman to achieve 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year, before Laura Wolvaardt (1174) did in 2024.

Mandhana's swashbuckling 2025 year

Smriti Mandhana finished 2025 as the highest scorer in ODIs, in both men’s and women’s cricket, for the second consecutive year. She was also the most prolific ODI batsman in 2024, scoring 747 runs in 13 matches. Mandhana has the record for scoring the second-fastest century (50 balls) in women's ODIs after Meg Lanning (45 balls).

Mandhana has the record for scoring the joint-most hundreds alongside Meg Lanning (17) across the three formats. She will definitely surpass the Australian great as the latter has retired from international cricket. This shows the talent and potential Smriti Mandhana has to become the best women’s cricketer in the world.

The 29-year-old batter finished the 2025 season as the third-highest run-scorer in internationals in 2025, behind Shubman Gill and Shai Hope (1760). It was the best finish by any women’s cricketer in international cricket in a calendar year. The left-handed opener will next be featuring in the one-off Test on 6th March, against the Australia Women’s National Cricket Team.

Alana King becomes the new No.1

Apart from Smriti Mandhana, there have been changes in the ICC rankings. Alana King became the No.1 ODI bowler in the ICC rankings after her stellar performance against India in the recently concluded ODI series.

She finished off the ODI as the leading wicket-taker with seven wickets at an average of 16.71 and ended Sophie Ecclestone's near four-year reign at the top of the rankings.

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