Women’s ODI rankings: Smriti Mandhana jumps to eighth spot

Smriti Mandhana is the lone Indian batter in the top 10. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma have made significant gains after their performance in the ODI series in Sri Lanka.

Smriti Mandhana hits out during the third T20 between India and Sri Lanka in Dambulla, on June 27. Mandhana struck an unbeaten 94 a week later.

India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has moved up a rung to the eighth position in the latest ICC women’s ODI rankings released on Tuesday.

Mandhana, who hit an an unbeaten 94 (83b) in India’s 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second ODI on Monday, is the lone Indian batter in the top 10. The list is headed by Australian Alyssa Healey followed by England’s Natalie Sciver.

All-rounder Deepti Sharma and opener Shafali Verma have made significant improvements in their positions after helping India take an unassailable 2-0 lead against Sri Lanka in the three-match ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) series being played in Pallekele.

Deepti, who grabbed three for 25 and scored an unbeaten 22, has moved up two places to the 29th position among batters and three slots to 16th among bowlers. In the rankings for all-rounders, she gained 20 rating points to reach within one point of Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner, who is sixth on the list.

Career-best 36th spot for Shafali

Verma, who is leading the run aggregate in the series with 106 runs - including an unbeaten 71 in the second match - is up 12 places to a career-best 36th among batters. She is currently ranked fifth in the T20I list.

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Other Indians to move up the batters’ list are Pooja Vastrakar (up three places to 61st), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (up four places to 93rd) and Meghna Singh (up seven places to 100th). They have all also moved up in the bowlers’ list - Gayakwad from 12th to 11th, Meghna from 58th to 47th, and Vastrakar from 57th to 50th.

Pacer Renuka Singh Thakur's seven wickets have lifted her 38 places to the 65th position.

For Sri Lanka, Nilakshi de Silva has gained 13 ranks to be 57th among batters after accumulating 75 runs in the two matches while Hasini Perera (up 16 places to 83rd) and Anushka Sanjeewani (up nine places to 89th) are the others to progress in that list.

Among bowlers, former captain Inoka Ranaweera has progressed five places to 21st after her four wickets in two matches and Oshadi Ranasinghe has gone from 64th to 59th position.

The two wins have taken India to the joint-second position with Pakistan in the IWC points table.

A win in the last match against Sri Lanka will see India catch up with South Africa at the top of the table with six points.

Sri Lanka is on two points, earned in its previous series against Pakistan.