The ICC has dropped the latest women’s T20I rankings and it just shows that the Indian women’s team is in a superb direction. Without much noise, Deepti Sharma climbed to the very top of the ICC Women’s T20I bowling rankings, becoming the world No. 1 for the first time in her career. There was more cheer in the update too, with Jemimah Rodrigues making a strong move into the top 10 among T20I batters.
Deepti Sharma rewarded
Deepti’s rise is the reward for years of consistency and she has now become numero uno for the first time. Her tidy spell of 1 for 20 in the series opener against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam was impactful enough to push her past Australia’s Annabel Sutherland, who had held the No. 1 spot since August. The five rating points Deepti gained from India’s eight-wicket win were just enough to give her a one-point lead at the summit.
She has long been India’s go-to bowler in the middle overs, someone who controls the tempo even when wickets don’t fall in clusters. Deepti is just two wickets away from becoming the first cricketer, men or women, to combine 150 T20I wickets with over 1000 runs in the format. She already has more than 1100 runs and sits on 148 wickets, a rare double that even elite all-rounders across eras haven’t managed. She is also closing in on becoming the leading wicket-taker in women’s T20Is, trailing Australia’s Megan Schutt by just four wickets.
ICC Women’s T20I bowling rankings
| Pos | Team | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | Deepti Sharma | 737 |
| 2 | Australia | Annabel Sutherland | 736 |
| 3 | Pakistan | Sadia Iqbal | 732 |
| 4 | England | Sophie Ecclestone | 727 |
| 5 | England | Lauren Bell | 714 |
| 6 | South Africa | Nonkululeko Mlaba | 705 |
| 7 | England | Charlie Dean | 704 |
| 7 | Australia | Georgia Wareham | 704 |
| 9 | West Indies | Afy Fletcher | 702 |
| 10 | Pakistan | Nashra Sundhu | 700 |
The rankings update brought good news for others too. Jemimah Rodrigues jumped five places to ninth among T20I batters after her unbeaten half-century in the opening game against Sri Lanka, a knock that earned her Player of the Match honours. She now joins Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma inside the top 10.
