Tahlia McGrath becomes No.1 batter, Mandhana holds third place

Dubai, Dec 13: Continuing her remarkable recent rise, Australia batter Tahlia McGrath jumped three places to become the No.1 ranked T20I batter in the latest ICC Women’s Player Rankings, released on Tuesday, after her superb performances in the first two matches of their ongoing series against India. The 27-year-old, who struck unbeaten knocks of 40 and 70 in Mumbai, has overtaken compatriots Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney as well as India opener Smriti Mandhana to become the fourth Australian and 12th batter to top the women’s T20I rankings.Mooney had been at the top since August 3 this year when she overtook Lanning. ICC Hall of Famer Karen Rolton is the other Australian to have been at the top of the rankings. McGrath claims the honour just 16 games into her T20I career — the same amount of matches it took India great Mithali Raj to reach the feat in 2011.
The last woman to reach the top in fewer matches was star West Indies player Stafanie Taylor in 2010 (15 matches) while India opener Shafali Verma has been the fastest in recent years, reaching the summit after 18 matches. In the latest update, that also considers performances in the third match of the series between New Zealand and Bangladesh and the first match of the series between the West Indies and England, Sophie Devine of New Zealand, Verma and Australia’s Alyssa Healy have gained one spot each to reach fourth, sixth and eighth positions.