Shree Charani, Shafali Verma make big gains in ICC T20I rankings

Indian players made major gains in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings after winning a record eighth Asia Cup title. Shree Charani reached a career-best 804 points, while Shafali Verma climbed to sixth among batters and Deepti Sharma rose to second

Hyderabad: Indian players have made significant gains in the ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings following their team’s record eighth Women’s Asia Cup title, with Shree Charani strengthening her position at the top of the bowling rankings and Shafali Verma returning to the top six among batters.

Charani’s outstanding figures of four for 20 in the final against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium lifted the left-arm spinner above the 800-point mark for the first time, to a career-best 804 rating points.

---

That is the highest rating ever achieved by an Indian in the ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings, across both the batting and bowling categories, surpassing Mithali Raj’s previous record of 780 points in the batting rankings in 2011.

Charani is now just two points short of the highest rating ever achieved by a women’s T20I bowler — the 806 points registered by Australia’s Megan Schutt in November 2018.

India’s bowling attack was further rewarded with Deepti Sharma moving up four places to second after finishing the Asia Cup as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 14 scalps.

Seamer Nandani Sharma climbed 10 places to 94th following an impressive tournament with the ball, while leg-spinner Prema Rawat made one of the biggest gains of the week, surging 50 places to 96th. Nandani was particularly economical, conceding just 4.64 runs per over.

In the ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings, Shafali Verma’s outstanding tournament saw her rise from seventh to sixth.

Verma was the leading run-scorer at the Asia Cup with 236 runs, including scores of 64 in the semi-final and 68 in the final. She now has 741 rating points — her highest since October 2021.

She is just one place and four rating points behind teammate Smriti Mandhana, who sits fifth on 745 points after scoring 213 runs in five innings.

Verma has also made significant progress in the all-rounders’ rankings, moving up five places to 15th and reaching a career-best 221 rating points.

Sri Lanka’s Nilakshika Silva was the third-highest run-scorer at the Asia Cup with 108 runs and moved up one place to 44th in the batters’ list.

Captain Chamari Athapaththu also made an impact with the ball, with her figures of seven for five against Indonesia contributing to a tournament tally of 12 wickets. She moved up one place to 27th among bowlers while retaining third place in the all-rounders’ rankings.

Elsewhere, South Africa’s ongoing T20I series against Zimbabwe has produced a major mover in the batting rankings.

Anneke Bosch surged an extraordinary 323 places to 54th after starring with the bat as South Africa took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series in Bulawayo.

Bosch scored 83 off just 43 deliveries in the opening victory before following it with 65 off 31 balls in the second match, making her one of the biggest movers in this week’s rankings.