Athapaththu advances in latest ICC T20I player rankings

Chamari Athapaththu led from the front in Sri Lanka’s recently concluded T20I series against Bangladesh in Sylhet. The skipper has risen two slots to third place and career-best rating points of 368 in the ICC Women’s T20I All-Rounder Rankings following her team’s 3-0 whitewash against Bangladesh this past week.

Athapaththu aggregated 115 runs from their three encounters, with scores of 32, 42 and 41, and also had four wickets to her name. The players ahead of her on the list are captains Amelia Kerr of New Zealand and Hayley Matthews of the West Indies.

The Sri Lanka captain, who won the Player of the Series award, has also risen three places to 41st in the bowlers’ list and remains steady in ninth position among the batters. Her performances have sent a strong message ahead of Sri Lanka’s tournament opening fixture against England at the highly anticipated ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales on 12 June.

There were more rewards for Sri Lanka’s players in the rankings which saw Harshitha Samarawickrama advance five spots to joint 20th and Imesha Dulani, who rocketed 23 places to a career-best 49th in the batting rankings. Their teammate Kavisha Dilhari moved two slots to 17th in the bowlers’ list.

Though the match results were disappointing for Bangladesh, there were rewards for individual performances. Sharmin Akhter Supta, Dilara Akter and Shorna Akter advanced 10, five and 19 slots respectively to 37th ,49th and 62nd in the batting rankings, with Sultana Khatun rocketing up an impressive 48 spaces to 38th for her overall haul of six wickets in the series.

The ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings saw movements following Pakistan’s comprehensive, 168-run victory over Zimbabwe in the first of their three-match ICC Women’s Championship series in Karachi.

Sidra Amin went up three notches to 11th place in the batting rankings thanks to her 59-ball score of 67. Fellow batter Sadaf Shamas’s 98 from 130 deliveries saw her advance 12 slots to a career-best 72nd place and their teammate Nashra Sandhu edged closer to the top 10 by moving one slot to 11th place, just eight rating points behind Amelia Kerr, who is 10th with 608 points.

-ICC