Dubai, June 18: She has been on an ascending path the recent times. She was the title winning skipper in Women's Premier League (WPL) and even in ODIs she has performed exceptionally.
India batter Smriti Mandhana's maiden home century in the first ODI against South Africa lifted her two places to third as England all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt regained the top spot in the latest ICC Women's ODI Rankings issued on Tuesday.
Mandhana smashed 117 in the series opener to register her sixth ODI century before debutant leg-spinner Asha Sobhana's four-wicket haul helped India to win the match by 143 runs.
England all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt regained the top spot back after amassing an unbeaten 124 runs against Pakistan last month while Sri Lanka veteran Chamari Athapaththu dropped one spot to second.
In the women's ODI batting rankings, Indian duo Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar gained three spots each to take 20th and 38th spots respectively. Sri Lanka pair Nilakshika Silva (up three rungs to 42nd) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (up four spots to 47th) catch the eye following the opening game of their series against the West Indies.
Deepti made advancement in the ODI bowlers rankings too with a one-place move to fourth after 2-10 against South Africa in the series opener. England spinner Sophie Ecclestone maintains a healthy lead at the top of the rankings.
In the all-rounders tally, Pooja Vastrakar ascended four places to grab 18th place while South Africa veteran Marizanne Kapp remains the no.1 ranked ODI all-rounder in the world.
Several former and present players have gone on record saying they do not follow rankings very seriously, they focus on the job in hand. But ICC rankings do follow players, because rankings are based on performance of players. More consistently a player performs, his or her rankings are likely to move up and the vice versa. (With IANS support)
