ICC Rankings: Shafali breaks into top four among T20I batters as Indians rise after Asiad heroics
Dubai, Sep 22 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) India’s Shafali Verma climbed to fourth in the latest ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings after a productive Asian Games campaign, while a number of players from India, Pakistan and South Africa made significant gains in the latest update.
Shafali’s rise came after she struck her maiden T20I century, an unbeaten 100 against Bangladesh in the Asian Games semifinal at Nisshin. She had earlier contributed an unbeaten 40 against Japan as India progressed to the final.
The Indian opener is now among the top four batters in the format, with her Asian Games performances strengthening her position near the top of the rankings.
Pakistan also had several batters make notable progress. Shawaal Zulfiqar surged 16 places to 29th, entering the top 30 for the first time with a career-best rating of 558. She scored 25 in Pakistan’s quarterfinal against Indonesia before making 54 in the semifinal against Sri Lanka.
Her teammate Ayesha Zafar made an even bigger jump, climbing 31 places to 40th after her 71 against Sri Lanka. Zafar’s 489 rating points represent a career best, while she also moved nine places to 30th in the T20I all-rounder rankings.
India continue to dominate the top of the T20I bowling charts, with Sree Charani retaining the No. 1 position with a rating of 799. Deepti Sharma remains second, 70 points behind her teammate.
There was further movement among India’s bowlers, with Kranti Gaud rising 15 places to 57th and Nandani Sharma moving up 22 spots to 72nd. Both registered career-best rating points, with Gaud on 461 and Nandani on 432.
Pakistan’s Sadia Iqbal moved up one place to eighth, while captain Fatima Sana climbed five spots to 24th. Bangladesh’s Sanjida Akter Meghla rose five places to joint-49th, while Thailand’s Onnicha Kamchomphu advanced six spots to joint-63rd after taking three wickets against Pakistan.
South Africa’s players also benefited from their comprehensive 5-0 T20I series sweep against Zimbabwe.
Miane Smit was among the biggest movers, jumping 63 places to a career-best joint-53rd in the batting rankings after scoring a century in the fourth match of the series.
Anneke Bosch, the leading run-scorer in the series with 214 runs, climbed eight places to 46th and broke into the top 50. Annerie Dercksen also registered a career-best 179 rating points in the all-rounder rankings, moving to 22nd.
Zimbabwe’s Nyasha Gwanzura provided one of the positives for her side despite the series result. After taking four wickets and recording the team’s best economy rate of 7.41, she rose 28 places to 87th in the bowling rankings, entering the top 100 for the first time.
The latest rankings, which take performances through Monday into account, reflect the impact of the Asian Games and South Africa’s dominant series against Zimbabwe, with several players rewarded for standout displays.
