Nandani Sharma Climbs 26 Places to 45th in ICC T20I Rankings

Nandani Sharma has climbed 26 places to 45th in the ICC Women’s T20I Bowling Rankings after taking three wickets in India’s first two matches against Zimbabwe.

The right-arm seamer has also reached a career-best 507 rating points after helping India take an unassailable 2-0 series lead over Zimbabwe in Raipur.

Nandani’s rise follows two effective outings

Nandani’s ranking jump was built on performances across the opening two matches of the series.

She took two wickets for 11 runs in the series opener, contributing to India’s strong start against Zimbabwe.

She then added another wicket in the second match, taking her total across the first two games to three wickets.

The ICC’s rankings update rewarded that work with a 26-place rise, taking her to 45th in the T20I bowling list.

Her new tally of 507 rating points is the best of her career.

The improvement came as India moved 2-0 ahead in the series, a lead the ICC described as unassailable.

That combination of match results and individual returns has placed Nandani among the notable movers in the latest Women’s T20I Bowling Rankings.

Kranti Gaud also moves up

India’s progress in the bowling rankings was not limited to Nandani.

Her teammate Kranti Gaud climbed nine places to 43rd in the Women’s T20I Bowling Rankings.

Kranti took one wicket for 16 runs in the series opener and followed it with one wicket for 15 runs in the second match.

Her figures across the two matches gave her two wickets and helped her make a sizeable move in the rankings alongside Nandani.

The two Indian bowlers’ gains came after the same pair of matches in which India established its 2-0 series lead over Zimbabwe in Raipur.

The update therefore reflects contributions from both ends of India’s bowling effort, with Nandani making the larger ranking jump and Kranti reaching 43rd.

Shafali remains fourth among T20I batters

India also had movement in the batting rankings during the same update.

T20 vice-captain Shafali Verma remains fourth in the Women’s T20I Batting Rankings after striking 55 from just 25 deliveries in the second match against Zimbabwe.

Her position did not change, but her innings formed part of India’s performance in the match that completed the team’s unassailable 2-0 lead.

Deepti Sharma moved up one place to joint-37th in the batting rankings after scoring 49 from 37 balls in the opening match.

The Indian gains in the update thus included Nandani and Kranti in the bowling list, while Shafali retained her place in the top four and Deepti improved her position.

Zimbabwe players also make gains

Zimbabwe’s players recorded ranking improvements despite India taking the series lead.

Kelis Ndhlovu rose three places to 64th in the Women’s T20I Batting Rankings after scoring 42 in the first match.

Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano climbed seven places to 73rd.

Josephine Nkomo moved up three slots to 91st.

Sharne Meyers returned to the top 100 after gaining 19 places to reach 96th.

Meyers’ move followed an unbeaten 43 from 33 balls in the series opener.

These changes mean the Zimbabwean side also had several batters advance in the rankings during a series in which India went 2-0 ahead.

Wider T20I changes include New Zealand’s batters

The rankings update also covered a tightly fought opening T20I between Australia and New Zealand in North Sydney.

Australia secured a two-wicket victory, but New Zealand’s Georgia Plimmer and Maddy Green advanced in the batting rankings after their performances.

Plimmer scored a career-best 85 not out and shared an unbeaten 127-run, third-wicket partnership with Green.

That stand helped the White Ferns post 162 for two.

Plimmer’s innings represented a significant return in the format, as her previous 54 T20I appearances had produced an average of 16.16.

She climbed 13 places to 48th in the Women’s T20I Batting Rankings.

Green moved up three slots to 34th and reached a career-best 528 rating points.

Australia’s Ellyse Perry anchored the chase with 52 from 30 deliveries.

Perry remained 16th in the batting rankings but reached a career-best 633 rating points in the format.

The update noted that Perry first played T20I cricket in February 2008.

New Zealand also had movement in the bowling rankings after the match.

Jess Kerr took three wickets for 25 runs and advanced five places to 17th in the bowlers’ list.

Bree Illing climbed six places to a career-best 23rd, while Nensi Patel moved up five slots to her own personal-best 35th.

Australia’s ODI gains follow Bangladesh sweep

The same ICC update included changes in the Women’s ODI Player Rankings after Australia completed a 3-0 sweep of Bangladesh in the ICC Women’s Championship.

Australia won the third ODI by eight wickets, with Megan Schutt’s bowling performance helping set up the result.

Schutt took four wickets for 16 runs in her 10 overs and bowled five maidens.

Her spell helped reduce Bangladesh to 45 for four.

Schutt finished the series with 10 wickets and was named both the Player of the Match and the Player of the Series.

She climbed to fourth in the Women’s ODI Bowling Rankings.

Annabel Sutherland and Ellyse Perry both scored unbeaten half-centuries in Australia’s final match of the series.

Sutherland gained four places to reach a career-best 13th in the ODI batting rankings, with 642 rating points.

Perry moved up one place to ninth in the same list, which is led by India’s Smriti Mandhana.

Perry also made a 14-slot jump to joint-25th in the all-rounders’ rankings.

Bangladesh had ranking gains despite losing the series.

Sharmin Akhter moved up five places to 25th among the batters after scoring a half-century.

Shorna Akter climbed 16 places to joint-86th.

The update therefore combined India’s T20I gains against Zimbabwe with movements from the Australia-New Zealand T20I and the Australia-Bangladesh ODI series.

For India, the most prominent change was Nandani’s 26-place rise to 45th after her three wickets in the first two matches.

Her career-best 507 rating points and Kranti’s move to 43rd give the Indian bowling group two significant changes in the latest T20I rankings.