Rodrigues, Rekha Yadav top Indians in Women's T20I Player Rankings

Dubai: India's Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday jumped to the fourth position in the batting chart, while slow left-arm spinner Radha Yadav is placed second among bowlers in the latest ICC Women's T20I Player Rankings.

Besides Rodrigues, young Shafali Verma also made significant progress in the just-released T20I Player Rankings, after playing stellar roles in a stunning 5-0 series sweep over the West Indies. Rodrigues moved up three places to the fourth position and teen sensation Verma gained 57 slots to reach 30th position as India leapfrogged the West Indies to the fourth position in the ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings after the 5-0 victory over the former T20 World champions.

The explosive 15-year-old Verma scored her maiden half-century in the first T20I against West Indies Women in St Lucia on Thursday. Verma is the youngest Indian ever to score an international fifty. Rodrigues scored 96 runs including a knock of 50 in the last match on Wednesday whereas hard-hitting opener Verma finished as the highest run-getter and player of the series with 158 runs. Another India batter to advance is Veda Krishnamurthy, who scored 77 runs including a match-winning 57 in the final match to move from 61st to 49th.

There are now three Indian bowlers in the top five as left-arm spinner Radha Yadav has moved up from fifth to the second spot. Deepti Sharma, who took eight wickets in the series, has retained her fourth position while Poonam Yadav is fifth. Off-spinner Anuja Patil (up to eight places to 21st) and fast bowler Shikha Pandey (up 11 places to 43rd) to have made notable progress in the latest rankings that also takes into account performances in Pakistan's home series against Bangladesh which the hosts won 3-0. For the West Indies, Shemaine Campbelle has progressed three places to 68th among batters while spinners Hayley Matthews (up to nine places to 27th) and Anisa Mohammed (up to two places to 45th) have advanced in the bowlers' list.

Pakistan's frontline batter Javeria Khan has moved into the top 20 with 111 runs against Bangladesh, which included two half-centuries, while Umaima Sohail has moved up to 64th. Among bowlers, Anam Amin (up 16 places to 12th) and Diana Baig (up 29 places to 63rd) are the notable gainers. For Bangladesh, Sanjida Islam has gained 11 slots to reach 75th position among batters while Jahanara Alam has gained 22 slots and is now in 15th place. In the team rankings, India (260) have gained eight points to move to the fourth position while the West Indies are now fifth at 248 after losing 10 points. Thailand, who have qualified for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, are in 11th position, four points behind Ireland.