Indians on rise in ICC rankings ahead of Women's Asia Cup

Ahead of the upcoming Women's Asia Cup, several Indian players including captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Shafali Verma have been on the rise in the ICC players' rankings. Harmanpreet and Shafali are the two biggest gainers among Indians in the batters' chart.

The Indian team managed to draw the three-match series 1-1 against the Proteas after the second T20I was washed out due to rain. Shafali's 27 run-knock and an 18-run outing in the two games saw her surge two places in the batters' rankings to move to 15th with 605 rating points, while Harmanpreet's 35-run outing saw the Indian captain go up three places to 12th on the same chart. She has 613 ratings.

Smriti Mandhana, who was India's top-scorer of the T20I series with 100 runs to her name, maintained her fifth position in the rankings. There were some more movements for the Indians. 

Spinner Radha Yadav moved eight spots from 23rd to 15th in the bowlers' tally, while Pooja Vastrakar climbed six places to reach 23rd. Youngster Shreyanka Patil also had a nine-place rise to 60.

In the batters' chart, Australia's Beth Mooney continues to stay



on the top with 769 rating points to her name, while England's Sophie Ecclestone continues to be the top-ranked bowler in the format, having 781 ratings to her name.

India are set to compete in the upcoming Women's Asia Cup, which will get underway on July 19 in Sri Lanka. India, who are the defending champions, are placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, UAE and Nepal women. The Women in Blue will begin their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on July 19 in the second game of the tournament. 

They will take on then take on UAE women on July 21, followed by their final group game on July 23 against Nepal. All the games of the tournament will take place at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla.

India squad for Women's Asia Cup:

Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan

Travelling reserves: Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaque, Tanuja Kanwer, Meghna Singh