London, July 25:
Riding on her stellar batting performances at the just-concluded World Cup, India’s Harmanpreet Kaur today broke into the top 10 of the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings.
Kaur’s swashbuckling 171 not out helped India defeat Australia by 36 runs in the semi-final and she followed that with a fighting 51 in the final against England. These performances helped her improve seven slots to sixth place in the latest ranking.
She is now the second India batter to feature in the top after Mithali Raj, who is ranked second – 10 points behind Australia captain Meg Lanning. Australia’s Ellyse Perry is third, trailing Raj by 12 points.
Apart from Kaur, Poonam Raut has gained five slots to reach 14th position after scores of 86 and 14 in the final and semi-final respectively, while Veda Krishnamurthy has gained seven slots to reach a career-best 26th position following scores of 35 in the final and 16 not out in the semi-final.
Among bowlers, world’s leading ODI wicket-taker Jhulan Goswami has gained four slots to reach second position and within four points of South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp after figures of 3-23 in the final and 2-35 in the semi-final.
Goswami’s new-ball partner Shikha Pandey (up one place to 12th) and leg-spinner Poonam (up six places to a career-best 28th) are other India bowlers to move up. (PTI)
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