Mithali Raj Makes It Back To Top Five ICC Women's ODI Ranking

Mithali Raj ICC ODI Ranking: After Mithali Raj scored 72 in the first match of the series between India and England in Bristol, she climbed back to her spot in the top five ICC Women's ODI Rankings for batswomen.

The 38-year-old batswoman has played international cricket for the Indian team for the last 22 years. Recently, she made the record by playing an equal number of ODI series as Sachin Tendulkar after 22 years in his career.

After her game at the Bristol grounds, Raj won three slots to reach the top five rankings. This was the first time she made it to the spot after October 2019. The top-ranking player was the captain of the Indian Women's cricket team when they qualified for the World Cup final in 2017 at Lord's stadium.

Other players of Mithali Raj's team were also shifted on the rankings scale. Shefali Verma who is the top-ranking T20 batter was placed at 120th ODI ranking after she scored 15 runs in 14 balls on her debut. Pooja Vastrakar re-entered the 97th spot among batters and got 88th rank among bowlers.

Among the top rankers, Tammy Beaumont of England secured the top spot after she remained 'not out' at 87 in the latest match. She gained 26 rating points and reached 791. Natalie Sciver climbed from ninth to the eighth position after her unbeaten 74. The new updated ranking of women's cricket is carried out on Tuesdays.

Bowler Anya Shrubsole improved three places as she was placed at the eighth spot. She had taken two wickets in the match. Apart from her, left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who is also a top-ranked T20I player, made it to the 10th position after climbing four slots. She had taken three wickets for 40 runs. She was the one who put an end to Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur's innings in the match. Her performance in the match was widely discussed as her name was being mentioned with Mithali Raj on Twitter. Another bowler, Kate Cross moved to the 25th spot after gaining three places.