ICC Women's rankings: Australia retain top spot after World T20 title, India remain 5th

Australia, who made their fifth straight appearance in the finals of the Women's World T20, are leading the ICC rankings with a tally of 7,937 points and 283 rating points.

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@ICC

The Australian women's cricket team on Sunday regained the top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I Team Rankings after they clinched an eight-wicket win over England to lift their fourth World T20 title at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. 

Australia, who made their fifth straight appearance in the finals, are leading the rankings with a tally of 7,937 points, besides a rating of 283. Runners-up England are placed second on the list with 6,567 points and 274 raiting points. 

The Indian women's cricket team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, continued to remain on fifth with 7,993 points after their semi-final exit from the World T20 tournament following an eight-wicket defeat against England. The Women in Blue are sitting behind third-placed New Zealand (7,925 points) and fourth-placed West Indies (6,089 points) in the list. 

While West Indies bowed out in the semi-finals of the prestigious T20I tournament after slumping to a 71-run defeat at the hands of ultimate winners Australia, New Zealand snapped a seven-match losing streak with a 54-run win over Pakistan before making an exit. 

South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are standing at sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth spots, respectively, in the updated Women’s World T20I rankings, with Ireland completing the top ten.

After the conclusion of @WorldT20, here's how the @MRFWorldwide ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings are looking, with champions @SouthernStars still sitting happily at number one! #WT20 #WatchThis pic.twitter.com/zRN4NvwVVg — ICC (@ICC) November 25, 2018

Earlier, the Australian women's cricket team made everything looked so easy as they chased down the lowly target of 106 runs in 15.1 overs-- with some England players also left in tears as the former team celebrated their first world title in four years.

Opener Alyssa Healy set the tone for the chase from the very beginning as she smashed a few boundaries before eventually falling for a 20-ball 22,  including 14 off the first over by Anya Shrubsole. 

After Australia also lost Healy's opening partner Beth Mooney for 14 runs, first drop Ashleigh Gardner (unbeaten at 33) and skipper Meg Lanning (unbeaten at 28) joined forces and stitched a crucial 62-run knock for the third wicket to help their side reach the target with nearly five overs to spare. 

Gardner, meanwhile, was also the pick of the bowlers for Australia as she finished with figures of three for 22, followed by Georgia Wareham's two for 11. Meanwhile, Ellyse Perry also contributed with a wicket as her side bundled out England, who were bidding to become double world champions, for 105 runs in 19.4 overs.