India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has moved back into the top 10 of the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings after playing an important part in her team’s six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final match of their ICC Women’s Championship series in Ahmedabad. Kaur, who had slipped three slots after the first two matches, notched 59 not out off 63 balls to grab the joint-ninth spot even as opener Smriti Mandhana and all-rounder Deepti Sharma gained important rating points after their fine efforts in the day-night match helped India clinch the series 2-1. Sharma, who had already attained a career-high 687 rating points last week while consolidating her second place among bowlers, added 16 more to reach 703 rating points after her haul of three for 39. England’s left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone though enjoys a huge lead at the top with 770 rating points. Left-hander Mandhana, who won the Player of the Match award for her 100, has added 23 rating points and reached a tally of 728, just five less than Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu in the list led by Natalie Sciver-Brunt of England with 760 rating points. India’s wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia is another player to move up in the batting rankings, from 48th to 45thafter chipping in with 35 runs, while for New Zealand, Brooke Halliday’s knock of 86 has lifted her 12 spots to 24th position and Georgia Plimmer’s 39 runs have taken her from 85th to 74th position. In the bowling rankings, Renuka Singh (up four places to 32nd), Saima Thakor (up 20 places to joint-77th) and Priya Mishra (up six places to 83rd) have all progressed. India are placed in third position in the ICC Women’s Championship standings after the series win over New Zealand. India are on 25 points from 15 matches while New Zealand are sixth with 20 from 21. Australia and England are at the top with 28 points each, from 18 and 21 matches, respectively.

View Entire Post