Fargana, Nahida attain new highs

Bangladesh women's cricket team's commendable performance in the recent ODI series against India was reflected in the latest ICC rankings.

Bangladesh drew the three-match ODI series with India 1-1 as the third and deciding match ended in a tie. Fargana Hoque became the first Bangladeshi woman to score a century in the format during the third match. Earlier, the Tigresses lost the T20I series against the same opposition 2-1.

The latest weekly update that considered performances in the last two matches of the series, which was part of ICC Women's Championship, saw Fargana and spinner Nahida Akter attaining new highs.

Fargana's 565 rating points are the highest by a Bangladesh woman batter, and she is the first from her country to break into the top 20 (19th position) after scoring 107 in the tied final ODI in Mirpur. The previous best was Rumana Ahmed's 25th position in February 2017.

Left-arm spinner Nahida's figures of three for 37 in the final ODI have helped her move up to 19th position in the bowling rankings. The previous best by a Bangladesh bowler was 20th position reached by Salma Khatun in December 2022.

India's Harleen Deol, named 'player of the match' in the final ODI after she top-scored for her team with 77 runs, has advanced 32 places to reach 51st position while Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored a match-winning 86 in the second ODI, is up 41 places to 55th. Deepti Sharma is in the top 10 for bowlers while Sneh Rana is up three places to 38th.

Meanwhile, England all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt has become the top-ranked batter in the rankings for the first time in her career after smashing a match-winning century in the final ODI of their ICC Women's Championship series against Australia in Taunton last Tuesday.

Sciver-Brunt's score of 129 followed an unbeaten 111 in the previous match, taking her ahead of Australia's Beth Mooney. She has also extended her lead at the top of the all-rounders' rankings to 39 rating points over West Indies captain Hayley Matthews.