Not just Kohli, Mithali Raj too climbs to No. 1 spot in ODI rankings !!!

India captain Mithali Raj replaced Australian Meg Lanning as the No.1 batswoman in the latest ICC rankings.

Australia opened the series with a two-wicket win in Brisbane and increased the lead with a 75-run victory on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in Coffs Harbour before England won the final match by 20 runs by the DLS method.



England had displaced Australia from the top ranking for the first time after the annual update earlier this month, starting the series ahead on decimal points with both teams on 128 points. But Australia made the most of the home conditions to prevail despite the absence of first-choice captain and leading batter Meg Lanning, going up to 129 points and ensuring a two-point lead in the process.


The remaining  sides will get a second chance through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier event. India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Srilanka and the Windies are the other sides in the ICC Women’s Championship, which runs till 2020.





Australia captain Rachael Haynes: “It (the win) was obviously pretty important given that the points will contribute to qualifying for the World Cup. To come around, beat England, the World Cup champions 2-1 - we are very happy with that!



“India are obviously a really strong team, they played in the World Cup final. I think any team at home these days in international cricket is a bit of a challenge. No doubt, when we get to that series, it will be pretty tough.The first two games we came away with nothing but to get two points on the board is lovely.

“There are lots of challenges in the ICC Women’s Championship – we have to play every team in a series and get enough points to qualify for the World Cup in New Zealand.



“There have been lots of learnings - we tried to wrest the momentum back, we got rid of those cobwebs. We managed to get over the line, there is relief I guess, that we have done that. There was a lot of pressure on us.”



Meanwhile, in the ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings, Lanning has dropped from first to fourth place after missing the series due to injury. India captain Mithali Raj has moved to number one position while Ellyse Perry of Australia and Amy Satterthwaite of New Zealand now occupy the next two places.

For Australia, opener Alyssa Healy’s 145 runs have lifted her from 44th to a career-best 28th position, captain Haynes has gained 26 places to reach 42nd place after scoring 128 runs in the series while pace bowler Megan Schutt has moved up 13 places to a career-best fourth position after finishing with 10 wickets in the series, including two four-wicket hauls.

England captain Knight has moved up two places to 12th place with an aggregate of 139 runs in the series, wicketkeeper-batter Sarah Taylor has moved up two places to 10th rank after scoring 129 runs while Tammy Beaumont has gained two places to reach a career-best 15th place.

Among their bowlers, Jenny Gunn’s seven wickets have lifted her one place to 19th position, Alex Hartley’s six scalps have seen her benefit by nine slots to reach a career-best 18th position while Anya Shrubsole has gained one slot to reach a career-best sixth position.