ICC Women's ODI Rankings: India's Smriti Mandhana slips to fourth spot, Australia's Meg Lanning reclaims No.1 position

Australian skipper Meg Lanning has climbed up four places to reclaim the No.1 position for batters, while Indian batswoman Smriti Mandhana has dropped to the fourth place in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s ODI Player Rankings released on Thursday.

Lanning's upward move in rankings came after playing a leading role in her side’s 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand in Brisbane that saw the six-time world champions record 21 consecutive wins in the format.

The 28-year-old amassed a total of 163 runs in two matches, including a Player of the Match performance of 101* in the second fixture, which helped her advance four places and dislodge her Caribbean counterpart Stafanie Taylor from the top.

This is the fifth time that Lanning has grabbed the top spot. Lanning, who last occupied the spot in October 2018, has been No.1 for a total of 902 days since the first time in November 2014, the ICC press release stated.

Meanwhile, Mandhana and skipper Mithali Raj are the only two batswomen from India to feature in top 10. Mandhana and Raj are standing at the fourth and 10th place with 732 and 687 points,respectively.

Australia's Rachael Haynes, who led the side in the final ODI after Lanning was ruled out due to a hamstring injury, was another batter for the side to make quick progress. Haynes has gained seven places to reach a career-best 13th position after finishing as the most prolific scorer in the series with 222 runs that comprised knocks of 44, 82 and 96.

In the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers, left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen’s eight wickets in the series, which included haul of 4/36 in the second match, helped consolidate her position at the top of the table with a career-best 804 rating points. She had started the series at 754 rating points, only four points less than her previous best of 758 recorded last year.

The first time Jonassen topped the ODI bowlers’ list was in July 2017 and she has been No.1 for 599 days spread over six spells, including the ongoing one that commenced in October 2019.

Spinners Georgia Wareham (up from 35th to 24th) and Sophie Molineux (re-entered at 44th) too have made notable headway in the latest update.

For New Zealand, formerly top-ranked Amy Satterthwaite has re-entered the ODI rankings in fifth position after scoring 111 runs in the series, even as another former captain, Suzie Bates, has lost a place in the top 10. Maddy Green has gained 18 places to reach 47th position after scoring 78 runs in the series.

Leg-spinning all-rounder Amelia Kerr has advanced five places to 13th among bowlers after six scalps in the series while fast bowler Lea Tahuhu (re-entered at 22nd) and Rosemary Mair (up 14 places to 49th) are the others from the side to move up the rankings.

Jhulan Goswami (691 points), Poonam Yadav (679 points) and Shikha Pandey (675 points) are standing at the fifth, sixth and seventh spots, respectively for India. Deepti Sharma, on the other hand, is occupying the 10th place with 639 points. 

In the ICC Women’s ODI Team Rankings, Australia and New Zealand remain in first and fifth positions, respectively. Australia have gained two points since the annual rankings update last week to move up to 162 points while New Zealand have lost two during the series and are now on 92.