Verma returns to top 10 of ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings

India opener Shafali Verma’s half-century in the fifth and final T20I against England sees her return to the top 10 of the ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings.

Though India lost the last match in Birmingham, they walked away with the series, taking it 3-2 after some fine performances from the visitors.

Verma’s reappearance in the top 10 comes after more than two years thanks to a welcome return to form, which saw her smash 75 runs from 41 deliveries as India posted 167 for seven at the end of their allotted overs. This comes after a score of 31 in the fourth T20I which India won by six wickets in Manchester.

Verma, a formerly top-ranked batter, has moved up four slots to ninth position, thanks to these two knocks.

In the Birmingham fixture, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkely and Tammy Beaumont added scores of 56, 46 and 30 to help England complete the highest chase in women’s T20Is in England.

Dunkley ended the series as England’s leading run-scorer with 151 runs, which helped her progress seven slots to 19th place, while stand-in captain, Tammy Beaumont catapulted 19 spots to 45th.

Charlie Dean’s three for 23 in the same match made her the biggest mover in the bowlers’ list this week, to joint-sixth place alongside Pakistan’s Nashra Sandhu and Australia’s Georgia Wareham.

Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone hopped one place to fourth, which triggered a one-slot rise for Australia’s Annabel Sutherland to second place.

India’s Radha Yadav also made gains in the top 20, shifting three slots to 15th. Her teammate Arundhati Reddy’s consistency and two wickets in the last match rewarded her with a four-slot jump to 39th, just one behind England’s Linsey Smith, who leaped nine places to 38th.

Further down, Shree Charani’s first T20I series ended with her as the leading wicket-taker across both teams with 10 and joint-81st place.

To know more about the ICC Rankings, please click here.