The 18-year-old off-spinner Sadia Iqbal became the first player from Pakistan to reach the top of the ICC Women’s T20I rankings, briefly leapfrogging long-time number one England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
However, that was short-lived as Ecclestone regained her No.1 ranking slot in the weekly update carried out on Tuesdays, the ICC said in a press release.
Ecclestone started the current ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 as the world number one-a position she has held since February 2020. Sadia joined her on 757 rating points after grabbing three for 17 against Sri Lanka in a Group A encounter on Thursday.
England spinner slumped to second position with 750 points two days later following an wicketless outing against Bangladesh in a Group B match.
Sadia’s reign at the top, however, lasted only two days as Ecclestone grabbed two for 15 against South Africa to win the Player of the Match award and regain her top spot to end the interesting neck-and-neck battle between the two left-arm spinners for the week. Sadia was only the second Pakistani player to reach number one in the women’s rankings. Former captain Sana Mir topped the ODI bowling rankings in 2018-2019.
There were other notable movements too after the England-South Africa match-in which South Africa openers Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits both attained career-best-equalling rankings after moving up two spots each.
A score of 52 not out against the West Indies and 42 yesterday against England took the captain Wolvaardt to third position while Brits reached the position of sixth with scores of 57 not out against the West Indies and 13 against England.
