Smriti Mandhan Retains Top Spot In ICC ODI Rankings
India’s star opener Smriti Mandhana continues to sit at the top while skipper Mithali Raj remained fifth in the latest ICC ODI Rankings released on Monday.
With 774 rating points to her name, Smriti Mandhana is ahead of Aussie duo – Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning. New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite and Raj complete the top five. Barring Smriti Mandhana and Raj, there are no more Indians in the top ten of the list. However, there are two in top 20 – Deepti Sharma, who jumped a place to 17th and Twenty20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur at 19th.
West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor has moved up two places to take the eighth spot while players from Pakistan and South Africa have also moved up in the ICC ODI Rankings after winning their respective ICC Women’s Championship series.
Taylor scored 158 runs to finish the series as the top-scorer but Pakistan won it 2-1 to leapfrog Windies in the points table of the eight-team championship. On the other hand, South Africa blanked Sri Lanka 3-0 to remain in contention for a direct birth in the next World Cup.
Among bowlers, veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami is the best-placed Indian at the third spot. Pakistan’s Sana Mir is leading the list while Australia’s Megan Schutt is at second position. Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav are two other Indian bowlers present in the top ten at eighth and ninth positions respectively. Deepti also features in the all-rounders chart at a career-high third spot. Perry leads the list of the allrounders in ODIs.
Meanwhile, India’s next assignment is against England at home. England women will be playing three One-day Internationals and as many T20Is against India in February-March, touring the country for the second time in less than a year. The outcome of the series will be crucial in the final standings of the ICC ODI Championship.
