Shafali Verma becomes India's top-ranked T20I batter after Asian Games 2026 gold medal win

India’s hard-hitting opener Shafali Verma moved up two places in the ICC Women’s T20I batter rankings after a 29-ball 48 in the final of Women's Asian Games 2026 against Sri Lanka. Shafali is now ranked fourth, going past West Indies captain Hayley Matthews and her Indian opening partner Smriti Mandhana.

Shafali has 756 rating points placed at fourth. The top spot is occupied by Australia's Beth Mooney (785 points) followed by teammate Georgia Voll (779 points) and South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt (766 points).

ALSO READ: India vs Japan wide ball controversy explained: Here's what the ICC rule says

Mandhana is placed sixth with 746 rating points despite a 79-run knock in the final. The only other Indian in top 10 is the captain Harmanpreet with 659 points.

ALSO READ: Joe Root becomes 8th batter to score 23,000 runs in international cricket: Here's the full list

India beat Sri Lanka by 147 runs to win the gold medal once again. 

"We play to ensure that our flag flies high. There is no bigger feeling than this," Verma said after the massive win.

"Our target was to see the national flag being raised and I am so happy...We will have a team dinner to celebrate with each other. We will celebrate with family after reaching home," she added.

Shafali goes past South African captain

Shafali missed a half-century in the final but she surpassed Laura as the leading T20I run-scorer in calendar year. Shafali has scored 863 runs from 24 games at an average of 39.22 and strike rate of 162.83, including a ton and seven fifties. She is closely followed by Laura who has 824 runs from 24 T20Is including two centuries and four fifties.

In the ongoing year, Hong Kong's Natasha Miles (800 runs from 27 T20Is), Yasmin Daswani (779 runs from 22 T20Is) and Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu (750 runs from 22 T20Is) are not too far behind.

Indian spinners’ reign continues, Pakistan spinner crashed out of top 10

India's spinner Shree Charani and Deepti Sharma maintained their dominance. Sree is placed at top with 799 points followed by Deepti with 729 points. Meanwhile, Pakistan's Nashra Sandhu slipped out of top 10 after taking three wickets in the Asian Games 2026. Last month, Nashra had claimed six wickets in the Asia Cup clash against Hong Kong.