India's stylish opener Smriti Mandhana and star all-rounder Deepti Sharma have achieved their career-best rankings in International Cricket Council women's T20I player rankings.
After a whirlwind 25-ball 51 in the T20 Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka, Mandhana moved up to the second spot in the batter's rankings surpassing Meg Lanning. The 26-year-old has 730 ratings points, 13 less than top-ranked Australian batter Beth Mooney.
There were two changes in top 10 batters' rankings as well. Suzie Bates moved two places up to sixth position as Indian opener Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues slipped one place each.
Deepti, who took 13 wickets in recently concluded Asia Cup, moved up one place to second spot. Deepti has 742 rating points, 14 shy of top-ranked England spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
Also, Indian's in-form pacer Renuka Singh climbed four spots to third place. She is tied with England's Sarah Glenn who has 737 rating points. Similarly, off-spinner Sneh Rana gained four places to enter the top 10. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gaekwad made the highest leap of seven places to move to 17th spot.
There were no changes in top 10 all-rounder's rankings. Deepti still holds the third spot with 370 rating points.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side lost just one game in the Asia Cup to Pakistan and that too while experimenting with their batting order in the run chase. The team management gave more chances to the middle-order batters in the Asia Cup. Harmanpreet revealed that she wants to give more chances to inexperienced batters before the T20 World Cup 2023 which will be played in February 2023.
In the T20 Asia Cup final, India outclassed islanders Sri Lanka. After restricting them to a paltry 65/9 in the first innings, India chased down the target with 69 balls to spare by eight wickets, thanks to Mandhana’s unbeaten 51.
