India opener Shafali Verma has moved up to fourth place in the latest ICC Women’s T20I batting rankings following an impressive campaign at the Asian Games.
Shafali made the biggest impact with her maiden T20I century. She smashed an unbeaten 100 against Bangladesh in the semifinal at Nisshin. Earlier in the tournament, she scored an unbeaten 40 against Japan. Her performances have helped her break into the top four batters in the format.
Pakistan Batters Make Big Gains
Pakistan also had several players move up the rankings. Shawaal Zulfiqar jumped 16 places to 29th, entering the top 30 for the first time. She now has a career-best rating of 558. Zulfiqar scored 25 against Indonesia in the quarterfinal before hitting 54 in the semifinal against Sri Lanka.
Ayesha Zafar made an even bigger jump, moving 31 places to 40th. Her rise came after she scored 71 against Sri Lanka. Zafar’s 489 rating points are also the best of her career. She also climbed nine places to 30th in the T20I all-rounder rankings.
Sree Charani Remains No. 1 Bowler
India continue to hold the top two spots in the women’s T20I bowling rankings. Sree Charani retained the No. 1 position with 799 rating points, while teammate Deepti Sharma remained second, 70 points behind her.
There were also big gains for two other Indian bowlers. Kranti Gaud moved up 15 places to 57th, while Nandani Sharma climbed 22 spots to 72nd. Both registered career-best ratings, with Gaud on 461 points and Nandani on 432.
Pakistan’s Sadia Iqbal moved up one place to eighth, while captain Fatima Sana climbed five places to 24th.
Bangladesh’s Sanjida Akter Meghla rose five places to joint-49th. Thailand’s Onnicha Kamchomphu also moved six places to joint-63rd after taking three wickets against Pakistan.
South African Players Rewarded After Zimbabwe Sweep
South Africa’s players made significant gains after their 5-0 T20I series win over Zimbabwe.
Miane Smit was one of the biggest movers in the batting rankings. She jumped 63 places to joint-53rd after scoring a century in the fourth T20I. It is also her career-best ranking.
Anneke Bosch, who finished as the series’ leading run-scorer with 214 runs, climbed eight places to 46th and entered the top 50.
Annerie Dercksen also recorded a career-best 179 rating points in the all-rounder rankings and moved up to 22nd.
Zimbabwe’s Gwanzura Breaks Into Top 100
Zimbabwe may have lost the series 5-0, but Nyasha Gwanzura was one of the bright spots for the team.
Gwanzura took four wickets during the series and finished with Zimbabwe’s best economy rate of 7.41. Her performances helped her climb 28 places to 87th in the bowling rankings.
She has entered the top 100 for the first time.
The latest ICC rankings include performances up to Monday and reflect the impact of the Asian Games as well as South Africa’s dominant series against Zimbabwe.
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