Deepti Sharma tops ICC Women’s T20I bowling rankings for first time

India’s Deepti Sharma has reached the top of the ICC Women’s T20I Bowling Rankings, while South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt reclaimed the No 1 spot in ODI batting. Jemimah Rodrigues and several other players also made notable gains in the latest update

Hyderabad: India all-rounder Deepti Sharma has topped the ICC Women’s T20I Bowling Rankings for the first time in her career, while South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt has regained the No 1 position in the ICC Women’s ODI Batting Rankings after the latest weekly update.

Sharma’s haul of one for 20 in the opening T20I of their home series against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam was enough for the off-spinner to overtake Australia fast bowler Annabel Sutherland, pipping her by one rating point to sit at the top of the table with 737 points.

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On the other hand, Wolvaardt slammed successive centuries in the second and third matches of their home series against Ireland – 124 and 100 not out – to run up a nine-point lead over India opener Smriti Mandhana and reach a career-best 820 rating points.

Jemimah Rodrigues, India’s Player of the Match in Visakhapatnam, has moved up five spots to ninth among T20I batters after her unbeaten 69 off 44 balls, while Sri Lanka opener Vishmi Gunaratne is up six places to 64th after scoring 39 runs.

The T20I bowling rankings see India’s Arundhati Reddy (up five places to 36th) and Shree Charani (up 19 places to 69th) make notable progress.

In the ODI rankings, Ireland captain Gaby Lewis has advanced four places to 18th after knocks of 45 and 64, and her team-mate Amy Hunter has moved up from 31st to 28th. Sune Luus (up seven places to 34th) and Dane van Niekerk (up 24 places to 95th) are the South African players to progress.

The bowling rankings see Ireland seam bowler Arlene Kelly go from 32nd to 27th and South Africa’s Tumi Sekhukhune from 78th to 67th after they both grabbed three wickets in the two matches this past week.