ICC rankings: The Women's T20 World Cup 2023 is about to begin in South Africa. All the 10 participating teams are gearing up for the marquee event that will be kicked off on February 10. However, ahead of the tournament, a few Indian players have received a major boost in the latest ICC rankings.
India's Sneh Rana shined in the latest ICC rankings. Rana, who is a reserve in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup, moved four places from 10th to reach a career-best of 6th in the Women’s T20I bowlers rankings. Meanwhile, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who will lead India's charge in the tournament, remains on 612 rankings points along with Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu to move into top 10. Other movers from the Indian camp were Deepti Sharma (up two places to 23rd) and Harleen Deol (up 20 places to 110th) in the batter's list.
Deepti, who rose up in the batter's chart, fell one spot down in the bowlers' tally. Deepti had taken the No.2 spot last week and was eyeing to dislodge England's Sophie Ecclestone from the No.1 position. South Africa left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba took Deepti's spot in the bowlers' rankings as she moved to the second. Harmanpreet has equal rating points to that of Chamari Athapaththu and would look to further up.
The Indian players displayed a good show in the recent matches but fell one step short of winning the Women's Tri-series against South Africa. Rana was crucial with the ball in the outing as she took 2 wickets for 21 runs. The Indian women's team was restricted to just 109/4 in 20 overs as the batters failed to spark up. Harleen Deol was the top scorer with 46 runs. Meanwhile, South Africa chased the target in 18 overs for the loss of 5 wickets.
The next big stage for women cricketers is the T20 World Cup in South Africa. India are placed in Group B of the tournament alongside England, Pakistan, Ireland and West Indies. They will lock horns against the arch-rivals Pakistan in their opener on February 12.
