Smriti Mandhana moves to career-best T20 batting ranking after match-winning knock in Commonwealth Games 2022 match vs Pakistan

Smriti Mandhana stroked 24 against Australia in the opening T20 of CWG2022 and then she followed it up with with an unbeaten 63 off 42 balls which included eight fours and three sixes respectively.

Source: Twitter

After her match-winning knock vs Pakistan in the 2nd T20 of the Commonwealth Games 2022, Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has moved to number 3 in latest T20 batting rankings for women. As per the ICC press release, Mandhana has moved one spot to her career-best rankings. Mandhana stroked 24 against Australia in the opening T20 of CWG2022 and then she followed it up with with an unbeaten 63 off 42 balls which included eight fours and three sixes respectively. As she climbs to number 3 in the rankings, she has overtaken New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and reached within two rating points of Australia’s Beth Mooney. 

Australian captain Meg Lanning still leads the rankings after regaining the top spot last week.

Mandhana if a former top-ranked batter in ODIs had jumped to third in the T20 rankings in the past too, first in 2019 and then in October 2021.  

___ ____!

Clinical with the ball & splendid with the bat, _____ ____ ________ by 8 wickets in their 2nd Commonwealth Games match. _ _

Vice-captain @mandhana_smriti smashes 63*. _ _

Scorecard __ https://t.co/6xtXSkd1O7 #B2022 #TeamIndia #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/MVUX3yFO4s — BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 31, 2022

Other achievers in latest ICC T20 batting rankings

New Zealand's Suzie Bates has moved two slots to reach the 6th position in the T20 rankings as well. This is a result of her unbeaten 91 which came off just 64 balls vs South Africa. On the other hand, Tahlia McGrath has moved up 12th in the rankings while India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has also moved up four places to be 14th in the list. There is improvement in Pakistan’s Nida Dar's ranking as well she moves up three places to 40th and South Africa’s Chloe Tryon (up five places to 47th). 

Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who played a match-winning knock vs India in the opening T20, moved up in all three lists. Gardner’s brilliant unbeaten 52 has helped her move five places to 11th while her haul of 2/6 vs Barbados has taken her from 45th to 26th. She has reached a career-best third position among all-rounders.