India women’s team Shafali Verma maintains No 1 position in ICC WT20I batting rankings
Indian teen star Shafali Verma Shafali Verma has maintained her position as the number one female T20 batter, while New Zealand’s Sophie Devine is the new all-rounder to take the top spot in the latest ICC rankings released on Tuesday.
Verma is holding onto her top rank with 759 ranking points, ahead of Australian Beth Mooney (744) and India T20 vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (716).
Another Australian Meg Lanning is at fourth spot with 709 points while Devine also gains a place in the batting chart to jump up to No 5 with 689 points.
Devine showed her class in the third T20I against England at Hove, scoring 50 runs with the bat while also returning with figures of 2/26. This has enabled her to jump up a spot and be the joint-top-ranked all-rounder alongside England’s Natalie Sciver.
Other gainers in the all-rounders rankings include India’s Deepti Sharma, Australia’s Ellyse Perry and West Indies’ Hayley Matthews, who all gain a spot to jump to No 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Stafanie Taylor of the West Indies dropped down three spots to seventh.
In the batting rankings, South Africa’s Lizelle Lee was the big gainer, jumping up three spots to the eighth spot in the chart.
In the bowling list, Australia’s Megan Schutt gained two spots to reach No 2 in the rankings. Jess Jonassen of Australia also gained a spot to reach No 4.
India’s Deepti Sharma also moved up to No 6 while Poonam Yadav remained at eighth.
Matthews, who was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the T20I series against South Africa, has gained seven places to break into the top 15 among bowlers.
