ICC women's rankings announced, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana on the rise

With Commonwealth Games 2022 just around the corner and the Indian contingency gearing up to win the fabled CWG gold medal, the stars of the Indian women's team, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have strengthened their position in the latest ICC rankings. Before this, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for Commonwealth Games 2022 which will be played in Birmingham.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, courtesy of her splendid show in the Sri Lanka series climbed one place to 13th while her deputy Smriti Mandhana ended up on the ninth place in the latest ICC Women's ODI rankings released on Tuesday. Kaur



scored a staggering 119 runs at an average of 59 and also picked 3 wickets in India's 3-0 sweep of Sri Lanka in the recently- concluded ODI series. Rewarding her for the all-around show, Kaur was named the player of the series.

Vice captain Smriti Mandhana was also not lagging as she scored 104 runs in three matches at an average of 52. Apart from Mandhana, other Indian batters made notable progress in the recent ICC rankings that were announced. Shafali Verma climbed to three places and reached the 33rd position and Yastika Bhatia is comfortably placed at 45th. Bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar rose to eight places and is now ranked 53rd.