ndia lost the ODI series to Australia Women as they fell short chasing 412, despite Smriti Mandhana stunning 50-ball century and a total of 369 runs.
New Delhi: After setting the record of 125 off just 63 balls against Australia in the third and final match against Australia Women in Delhi, Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana scored her career-highest rating points in ODIs. Mandhana continued to dominate the ICC rankings for ODI hitters, moving 87 points clear of England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who is currently ranked second, to reach 818 rating points.
After hitting 300 runs, including a couple of hundreds, Mandhana was named Player of the Series. Unless she has a terrible World Cup, the graceful opener is probably going to stay in her position for the next month and a half. Tazmin Brits, the opener from South Africa, was the other major batter to gain ground this week. In the two games she played, Brits smashed consecutive hundreds and climbed 15 spots to number six in the rankings.
The series’ second-highest run scorer, veteran Australian batswoman Beth Mooney, who hammered an aggressive 138 in the series finale, also moved up a few ranks to No. 3, surpassing South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt and her countrywoman Ellyse Perry. After being dismissed early in the second ODI, opening batsman Georgia Voll scored 81 off 68 balls to move up 28 spots to No. 61, while Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma shot up six spots to No. 18 following her explosive 72 in the series finale.
Sidra Amin, who struck consecutive hundreds in the first two ODIs of the Pakistan-South Africa series, shot up 10 spots to 13th rank, while Marizanne Kapp, an all-rounder for South Africa, returned to the top 10 at ninth place. Additionally, Kapp rose to second place, just behind Ash Gardner, on the all-rounders list.
All three categories will see a number of significant changes once the World Cup gets underway next week.