Indian women’s cricket team captain and batting veteran Mithali Raj’s stellar performance in the recent India tour of England series has earned herself the top spot in the MRF Tyres ICC women’s ODI player rankings. This is the 8th time in her magnificent 22 years cricketing career that she has made it to the top. Mithali Raj scored an aggregate of 206 runs in the 3 match series, she moved from the 8th spot at the beginning of the series to number 1. Mithali Raj first reached the number 1 position in April 2005 which was 16 years back. This difference of 16 years is the highest among any female batter.
Indian opener Shefali Verma also moved up 49 spots to 71st place after her magnificent show in this series whereas veteran pace bowler Jhulan Goswami moved up 4 spots to 53rd place. Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma too moved up 1 spot to rank 12 after a brilliant spell of 3 wickets for a meager 47 runs in the final ODI.
In the England camp, left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone gained 4 places to reach her career-best rank at the 6th place. Kate Cross too moved from the 25th spot to the 18th spot.
Finally, Nida Dar of Pakistan also known as Lady Boom Boom moved up 6 spots to the 15th position after a top-notch performance against the West Indies in a 3 match series. In the final match West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor moved 10 places after claiming a hattrick in the final match.
