Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu in top 10 of ICC women's T20I batting rankings
May 16, 2023
Dubai [UAE], May 16 : Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu has got rewarded for her consistency and she is now among the top 10, according to the latest ICC Women's T20I batting rankings.
Athapaththu contributed 103 runs from three innings during Sri Lanka's recently-completed 2-1 series triumph over Bangladesh and that helped the 33-year-old left-hander improve two places to ninth overall in the rankings for T20I batters.
Australia's bevy of stars maintain a stranglehold on the premier places in the T20I batter rankings, with Tahlia McGrath (first), Beth Mooney (second) and skipper Meg Lanning (fourth) occupying three of the top four spots, as per ICC.
Athapaththu performed consistently during Sri Lanka's home series against Bangladesh, while teammate Harshitha Samarawickrama also made giant strides on the back of her series-best 125 runs over the three matches.
Samarawickrama contributed an unbeaten 51* in the decisive series finale in Colombo and that helped the left-hander improve 12 spots overall to a career-high rating at 27th place on the batting rankings.
Nigar Sultana contributed the most runs for Bangladesh over the course of the series with 113 runs and the veteran skipper shot up four places to 18th overall on the list for T20I batters.
Sri Lanka's impressive bowling attack also found a reflection in the latest T20I bowler rankings, with left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera improving five spots to 12th overall on the back of her four wickets against Bangladesh.
Fellow tweaker Sugandika Kumari jumped 20 places to equal 33rd while veteran seamer Udeshika Prabodhani, who finished as the joint leading wicket-taker during the series with five scalps, shot up 21 spots to 38th overall.
