India women captain Mithali Raj jumps to No.1 position in ICC ODI player rankings

India women's Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj has moved up to the No. 1 spot in the latest ICC women’s ODI player rankings.

Mithali Raj scored 59 in the second one-dayer against England and followed it up with an unbeaten 75 in the final ODI, guiding India to a four-wicket victory.

The Indian women's captain thus gained four points to move to the top of the points table in the latest ICC women’s ODI rankings.

Mithali Raj last occupied the top spot in the ODI rankings in February 2018. The first time she reached the No. 1 ranking was back in April 2005.

💥 @M_Raj03 is the new No.1 💥In the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Women's ODI Player Rankings for batting, the India skipper climbs to the 🔝 of the table.Full list: https://t.co/KjDYT8qgqn pic.twitter.com/2HIEC49U5i

— ICC (@ICC) July 6, 2021

Among the other Indian women's batters, young opener Shafali Verma, who registered scores of 44 and 19 in the last two ODIs of the series against England, has moved up 49 spots to reach the 71st position.

With 701 points, the other opener Smriti Mandhana has maintained her No. 9 spot in the ODI batting rankings.

India women's leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, who picked up three wickets in the last two ODIs against England, has moved up to No. 9 in the ICC women’s ODI bowling rankings, a list lead by Australia’s Jess Jonassen.

Experienced Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami has gained four places to reach the 53rd rank, while all-rounder Deepti Sharma is at No. 12 after claiming three wickets in the final ODI against England.

In the women’s T20I Player Rankings, Pakistan spinner Nida Dar, who recently became the first from her nation to claim 100 T20I wickets, has gained six spots to reach 15th position. She claimed four wickets in the three-match series against the West Indies.

West Indies captain @stafanie07 and @MyNameIs_Hayley make significant gains in the latest @MRFWorldwide ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings for all-rounders 📈Full list: https://t.co/py2wQA3VZq pic.twitter.com/z3w3345fGs

— ICC (@ICC) July 6, 2021

Shafali Verma remains at No. 1 in the women’s T20I batting rankings, while Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodriques have also retained their spots at No. 4 and No. 9, respectively.

India women coach impressed with players’ performance in England so far

Although India women lost the three-match ODI series 1-2, coach Ramesh Powar has been highly impressed by the girls' performance on the England tour so far. India women earlier drew the one-off Test in Bristol.

In a video tweeted by BCCI, Powar said:

"Sneh Rana is the find of this series. The way she was bowling in practice sessions at Southampton, we thought we must give her a chance. It was a difficult decision to play two off-spinners in the playing 11 but she played her role to the core. And am really happy for her because being an off-spinner I can see the talent. She is a player who can play in the crunch situations and that's what we needed right now."

India women will conclude their tour of England with three T20Is, the first of which will be played in Northampton on July 9.