Smriti Mandhana and Heather Knight gain significant leaps in the latest ICC Women’s ODI batter rankings

RCB Women’s team skipper, Smriti Mandhana, climbed up a spot to clinch the sixth position in the latest ICC Women’s ODI batting rankings while Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur slipped down to the eighth position after a lean show in the recently concluded Bangladesh series.

Mandhana is at 704 rating points while the hard-hitting Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had 702 next to her name as per the latest release. Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma were the only two Indian bowlers to have finished inside the top 10 positions in the list of ICC Women’s ODI rankings for bowlers.

Both Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma lost a spot each as the latter clinched the seventh position while the former finished in the ninth position of the bowling echelons. Sri Lankan captain, Chamari Athapaththu lost the top spot in women’s batting rankings to Beth Mooney after her two-week reign came to an abrupt halt.

Beth Mooney’s promotion to the top of the batters’ rankings happened on the back of a couple of phenomenal knocks that saw her smashing 81 and 33 in the women’s Ashes. Natalie Sciver-Brunt climbed up to the second position with her career-best rating of 763.

English captain and RCB’s middle-order batter Heather Knight bagged the 14th position of the rankings while Kiwi opener, Sophie Devine, equalled her in the women’s batter rankings. Heather’s unbeaten 75 in the opening ODI of Women’s Ashes saw her clinching this crucial jump.