Shafali, Renuka climb ICC Women’s T20I rankings; Deepti stays at No. 1
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Dubai: India opener Shafali Verma has climbed to sixth place in the latest ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings after a series of commanding half-centuries against Sri Lanka.
The 21-year-old, a former top-ranked batter, jumped four places following scores of 69 not out off 34 balls in the second T20I, followed by unbeaten knocks of 79 off 42 deliveries and 79 off 46 balls in the third and fourth matches in Thiruvananthapuram.
India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana retained her third position in the rankings after ending her lean patch with a fluent 80 in the fourth T20I, while Jemimah Rodrigues slipped one place to 10th.
All-rounder Deepti Sharma continued her reign at the top of the bowlers’ rankings, with fellow India pacer Renuka Singh Thakur breaking into the top 10. Thakur, who has previously reached a career-best third position, surged eight places to joint sixth after a match-winning spell of four for 21 in the third T20I, which India won by eight wickets to clinch the series.
India’s left-arm spinners Shree Charani and Vaishnavi Sharma also made notable progress in the latest weekly update as the hosts took a 4-0 lead in the five-match series. Charani jumped 17 places to 52nd in the bowling rankings, while Vaishnavi Sharma made a remarkable rise of 390 places to reach 124th in her first international series.
The rankings movement comes as the 50-over world champions assess their options ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to be held in England and Wales from June 12 to July 5.
From Sri Lanka, left-handed opener Hasini Perera climbed 114 places to 71st among batters after scores of 22, 25 and 33 in the three matches played during the week. Kavisha Dilhari also moved up three places to 79th.
With PTI inputs