Dubai: India's 16-year-old batting sensation Shafali Verma has jumped 19 slots to attain the number one spot in the ICC Women's T20I batting rankings, the world body revealed on Wednesday.
Verma takes over from New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, who had been the top batter since October 2018 after wresting the spot from West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor.
Having played just 18 T20Is so far, Shafali has managed to top the batting charts with some remarkable performances in the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup.
The youngster has scored 485 runs in the shortest format of the game at a strike-rate of 146.96. She has scored 161 runs in the ongoing tournament with the highest being 47 against Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana has dropped down two spots and is now ranked six. Jemimah Rodrigues has also slipped two positions and is now at the ninth spot.
In terms of bowling rankings, India's Poonam Yadav, who took four wickets in the first match against Australia, has risen four slots to reach the eighth position.
Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav are in the fifth and seventh positions respectively.
Currently, England's 20-year-old Sophie Ecclestone leads the bowling charts.
Australia remain at the top of the Women’s T20I Team Rankings with 290 points and England in second position with 278. India meanwhile are placed fourth with 266 points.
