India have overtaken New Zealand to grab the third spot in the ICC women’s team rankings for T20Is after the annual rankings update carried out on Friday.
The rankings table sees Australia and England retain the top two positions, their points tally remaining 291 and 280, respectively. India, who made the final of this year’s Women’s T20 World Cup in March, have overtaken the White Ferns, in what is the only change in the top 15 of the 56-team list.
In ODIs, six-time World Cup champions and winners of both editions of the ICC Women’s Championship, Australia’s stellar display during the rating period saw them win 20 of 21 ODIs, increasing their tally by eight points to 160 and because of that they have maintained their top position.
Their massive lead of 39 points over second-placed India is the largest by any team (men or women) in any form of the game. It comes on the back of 3-0 series wins over India, Pakistan, New Zealand, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and an earlier 2-1 win over England at the start of the ICC Women’s Championship, only a few months after England had won the World Cup in 2017.
India (121) and England (119) have lost four points each while clinging on to their second and third positions, respectively, while South Africa (107) enjoy a 13-point lead over New Zealand (94), with the West Indies (85), Pakistan (77), Bangladesh (61) and Sri Lanka (47) following in that order.
The latest update expunges results from the 2016-17 season, weights the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons at 50 per cent and the 2019-20 matches at 100 per cent.