India all-rounder Deepti Sharma has climbed to the top of the ICC Women’s T20I bowling rankings for the first time in her career, while South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt has reclaimed the No.1 spot among ODI batters in the latest update.
Deepti’s rise follows her economical spell of 1 for 20 from four overs in the opening T20I against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam, a match India won by eight wickets. The performance earned her five rating points and pushed her past Australia’s Annabel Sutherland, who had held the top position since August. Deepti now leads the T20I bowling list by a single point.
India also saw movement further down the bowling rankings, with Arundhati Reddy climbing five places to 36th after the Sri Lanka game.
In the T20I batting rankings, Jemimah Rodrigues was the biggest mover among Indian players. Her unbeaten half-century against Sri Lanka, which earned her Player of the Match honours, lifted her five places to ninth. She now sits inside the top 10 alongside Smriti Mandhana, ranked third in T20Is, and Shafali Verma, who is placed 10th.
Mandhana, however, slipped to second place in the ODI batting rankings. Wolvaardt returned to the top after a dominant home series against Ireland, scoring centuries in the final two matches as South Africa completed a 3-0 sweep. The run of scores took the Proteas captain to a new career-high rating and back above Mandhana.
South Africa’s Sune Luus also made gains, rising seven places to 34th in the ODI batting rankings and climbing 11 spots to 22nd among ODI all-rounders following her contributions with both bat and ball.
Ireland found positives despite the series loss. Arlene Kelly moved up five places to 27th in the ODI bowling list, while batters Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter rose to 18th and 28th respectively.
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