Sneh Rana jumps to career-best sixth in ICC T20I bowlers’ ranking

Dubai, Feb 7 (PTI) India’s Sneh Rana jumped four spots to a career-best sixth place while compatriot Deepti Sharma slipped a place down to third among bowlers in the latest ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings issued on Tuesday.

Off-spinner Rana advanced four places after taking two for 21 in the Tri-Series final against South Africa, which also featured the West Indies.

South Africa left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba dislodged Deepti from the earlier second position after a fine performance against India in the final of the Tri-series.

Mlaba grabbed two for 16 in the final in East London to finish with six wickets in the Tri-Series which came at just 8.66 runs apiece and she conceded just 3.25 runs per over to move to a career-best 753 rating points, just 10 points behind England’s Sophie Ecclestone, another left-arm spinner.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (up one place to 10th), Deepti Sharma (up two places to 23rd) and Harleen Deol (up 20 places to 110th) are among those to move up the list for batters in the last update to the rankings ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup beginning on Friday.

South Africa all-rounder Chloe Tryon is the main mover with the bat, following her unbeaten 57 in the final, which also won her the Player of the Match award.

The upcoming 10-team tournament in South Africa could see several possibilities as the best in the world compete across three venues in South Africa.

Australia batters Tahlia McGrath and Beth Mooney are looking at potential milestones. McGrath could achieve the highest points tally by a batter in the women’s T20I batting rankings as she is just 40 adrift of Charlotte Edwards’s record of 843 achieved in June 2009.

Mooney could become only the second Australian to reach 800 batting rating points after McGrath.

Among bowlers, Ecclestone and Mlaba could get to 800 rating points, which only Australia fast bowler Megan Schutt has managed to do so far, touching 806 rating points in 2018.