Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma rises in the women's ODI rankings

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jul 5, 2022 | Dhupali Das

They also advanced on the list of bowlers: Gayakwad from 12th to 11th, Meghna from 58th to 47th, and Vastrakar from 57th to 50th.

Digital Desk: Indian Women cricket team all-rounder Deepti Sharma and opener Shafali Verma saw considerable improvement in the ICC Women's ODI Player Rankings following their contributions to India's 2-0 series victory over Sri Lanka in the ICC Women's Championship (IWC) series being played in Pallekele.

Deepti, who took three for 25 and scored an unbeaten 22 to win the 'Player of the Match' title in the first ODI, has gone up two spots to 29th among batsmen and three spots to 16th among bowlers. She has earned 20 rating points in the all-rounder rankings, putting her one point behind sixth-placed Ashleigh Gardner of Australia.

Verma has climbed 12 positions to a career-high 36th among batters and now leads the series in runs scored with 106, including an undefeated 71 in the second match. Although she is now ranked fifth in T20Is, she has previously held the top spot in that format. 

Other Indians to advance up the batters' list are Pooja Vastrakar (up three spots to 61st), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (up four spots to 93rd), and Meghna Singh (up seven places to 100th). They also advanced on the list of bowlers: Gayakwad from 12th to 11th, Meghna from 58th to 47th, and Vastrakar from 57th to 50th.

Seam bowler Renuka Singh made significant progress; her seven wickets, including a Player of the Match performance of four for 28 in the opening match, helped her move up 38 positions to 65th rank.

For Sri Lanka, Nilakshi de Silva has climbed 13 places to 57th among batters after scoring 75 runs in two matches, while Hasini Perera (up 16 places to 83rd) and Anushka Sanjeewani (up nine places to 89th) have also advanced in that list. 

After taking four wickets in two matches, former captain Inoka Ranaweera has moved up five places to position 21 in the bowlers' rankings, while Oshadi Ranasinghe has climbed from 64th to 59th. 

With these two victories, India is now tied for second place with Pakistan in the IWC points rankings. However, they can overtake South Africa at the top of the standings with six points if they win their final game against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka had two points after defeating Pakistan in their last series.