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ICC Rankings – Sadia Iqbal becomes No. 1 T20I bowler before Sophie Ecclestone snatched it
Sadia Iqbal briefly became the first player from Pakistan to top the ICC women’s T20I rankings when she overtook Sophie Ecclestone to become the world’s top bowler. However, it didn’t last long as Ecclestone snapped it up at the end of the week when the updates were made public.
Ecclestone has been the top-ranked women’s T20I bowler since February 2020 – and counting – but for a few days last week, the throne belonged to Iqbal. Iqbal started in a tie with Ecclestone after taking 3 for 17 against Sri Lanka in the opening game of the Women’s T20 World Cup in Pakistan. Ecclestone, on his World Cup debut, returned with 0 for 21, and slipped behind Iqbal as a result. But Iqbal then took 1 for 23 against India, and Ecclestone returned with a Player-of-the-Match 2 for 15 against South Africa to regain top spot.
There is a gap of eight points (762 and 754) between the two, so it is possible that the positions may change again before the end of the World Cup.
As such, left-arm spinner Iqbal is having his best year in T20Is. Of all players in the World Cup, he has the most wickets in 2024 – 28 wickets in 17 games. Sana Mir, the former Pakistan captain, is the only other Pakistani female cricketer to top the ICC rankings – becoming the top ODI bowler in 2018-19.
The tussle at the top of the T20I bowler rankings aside, a number of other players have made notable moves as the World Cup continues.
Among the batsmen, Suzie Bates’ 27 against India took her tally to seventh, while Harmanpreet Kaur rose to 12th, a jump of four spots, behind her 15 against New Zealand and 29 (injured retired) against Pakistan. One of the players who have done well in the World Cup so far has been Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who has scored 41 and 43 runs against Bangladesh and South Africa, respectively, helping England win both games. That moved him up from number 20 to 18th, where he was joined by teammate Nat Sciver-Brunt, who was 19th last week, after scoring 48 not out against South Africa.
For bowlers, Megan Schutt climbed nine places to enter the top 10 at number 10 after taking 3 for 12 against Sri Lanka. Among the top five, Sarah Glenn has moved up to third place, behind Ecclestone and Iqbal, after taking a wicket in each of England’s matches so far. Below him, Ash Gardner moved up to sixth place and Rabeya Khan moved up one place to number 9.
Nonkululeko Mlaba, who set up South Africa’s first win against the West Indies by returning 4 for 29, and since then took 1 for 22 against England, has moved up to 13th place.
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