Asia Cup stars from India & Sri Lanka reach new heights on rankings

Dubai, July 30 (Agency) A host of international stars that dominated the recently completed Women’s Asia Cup have reached new career-high ratings and made good ground on the latest ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings.India opener Smriti Mandhana top-scored for her side in the Asia Cup final with a superb 60 and the left-hander found a new career-best rating on the rankings for T20I batters as she rose one place to be fourth overall behind Australia’s Beth Mooney. Inspirational Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu also reached new heights as she moved up three places to sixth on the same list to bring up a career-best rating following her Player of the Tournament heroics at the Asia Cup that included a whopping 304 runs at an average north of 100.Pakistan left-hander Muneeba Ali also reached a new career-high rating when rising six places to 35th on the list for T20I batters on the back of her good Asia Cup, while Bangladesh’s Nigar Sultana (up three spots to 14th), Sri Lanka’s Harshitha Samarawickrama (up three rungs to 20th) and Pakistan’s Gull Feroza (up 32 places to 64th) made ground following some decent efforts with thebat at the tournament.

It is a similar story on the updated rankings for T20I bowlers, with Pakistan spinner Sadia Iqbal gaining a new career-high rating and rising one place to fourth behind England’s Sophie Ecclestone on the back of her eight wickets at the Asia Cup at an average of just 8.37, an ICC report said. India’s Renuka Singh is the other mover inside the top of 10 of this category, with the right-armer gaining four places to move up to fifth following seven scalps at the Asia Cup at an average of 13.14. Teammate Radha Yadav gains seven places to move to 13th on the same list for T20I bowlers, while Sri Lanka trio Udeshika Prabodhani (up six spots to equal 24th), Sugandika Kumari (up four rungs to 27th) and Kavisha Dilhari (up five spots to equal 30th) all make ground following their title success. Dilhari also makes some ground behind West Indies superstar Hayley Matthews on the T20I All-Rounder rankings, with the Sri Lankan gaining 10 places to improve to 17th overall following some good showings with bat and ball at the Asia Cup.