Shafali moved past India’s Smriti Mandhana and West Indies’ Hayley Matthews to reach fourth with 756 rating points.
Australia’s Beth Mooney, Georgia Voll and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt retained the top three spots, according to the ICC. India’s opener Shafali Verma has climbed two places to fourth in the latest ICC Women’s T20I batting rankings following a prolific run in the Asia Cup and Asian Games, while teammates Deepti Sharma and N Shree Charani continue to occupy the top two positions in the bowling charts.
The 22-year-old carried her form from the Women’s T20 Asia Cup into the Asian Games, scoring 64 and 68 in the continental tournament’s semifinal and final, respectively. At the Asian Games, she made an unbeaten 40 in India’s quarterfinal against Japan before smashing an unbeaten 100 off 49 balls against Bangladesh in the semifinal. Shafali also played a key role in India’s gold-medal triumph, scoring 48 in a blistering opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana in the final against Sri Lanka. India won the match by 147 runs to claim their second successive Asian Games gold in women’s cricket. Pakistan batter Shawaal Zulfiqar moved up 16 places to 29th in the batting rankings with a career-best 558 points. She scored 25 in the Asian Games quarterfinal and 54 in the semifinal against Sri Lanka.
The century was her maiden white-ball hundred in international cricket and made her the first woman to score a century at the Asian Games. Pakistan captain Fatima Sana gained five places to reach 24th in the bowling rankings, while Thailand’s Onnicha Kamchomphu moved up six spots to joint 63rd after taking three wickets against Pakistan.
India’s triumph in the Asian Games final was powered by Mandhana’s 79 off 45 balls and Richa Ghosh’s unbeaten 49 off 22 deliveries as the team posted 216/3. The bowlers then dismissed Sri Lanka for 69 in 15.4 overs, with Deepti taking 3/6 and Shafali and Shreyanka Patil claiming two wickets each.
