This comes after Kaur played an impressive knock of 59 runs from 63 deliveries in the third and final ODI of the series against New Zealand. The innings pushed her back into the top 10.

Left-hander Mandhana, who won the player of the match award for her knock of 100 in the third ODI, added 23 rating points to reach a tally of 728. The list is led by England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt with 760 rating points. Also, wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia moved up from 48th to 45th after chipping in with 35 runs

In the bowling chart, seasoned spinner Deepti Sharma gained important rating points after helping India win the series 2-1. The all-rounder added 16 points to take her tally to 703 rating points thanks to her valuable bowling spell of 3/39 to hold onto the second spot. England’s left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone enjoys a huge lead at the top with 770 rating points.

India pacer Renuka Singh was up four places to 32nd while Saima Thakor (up 20 places to joint-77th) and Priya Mishra (up six places to 83rd) also progressed.

India is currently placed on 3rd position in the ICC Women’s Championship standings with 25 points, behind Australia and England who have 28 points each.

The post Smriti Mandhana remains 4th, Harmanpreet Kaur rises to 9th in latest women’s ODI rankings appeared first on Cricket Country.

6 Indian players were picked in the draft, including star opener Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Jemimah Rodrigues. While the Indian contingent is expected to miss the start of the tournament, they should be available to play during the later stages.

Mandhana was the pre-draft pick of the reigning champions, Adelaide Strikers. With this, the opener becoming the first Indian player to be pre-signed by a BBL team.

Within the draft, the earliest Indian player drafted was Deepti Sharma as the fourth pick by the Melbourne Stars. This comes after Deepti’s stellar performances for the London Spirit in Women’s Hundred which concluded recently.

Jemimah Rodrigues was the second Indian player picked in the first round, joining Brisbane Heat as the seventh pick. She was joined by pacer Shikha Pandey who was chosen by the Brisbane side as their 15th pick.

Dayalan Hemalatha was next to be chosen, as the first pick of the third round by Perth Scorchers. Yastika Bhatia was the last Indian player picked up, with the wicketkeeper-batter joining Deepti Sharma at the Melbourne Stars.

There were some Indian players who weren’t able to get any takers in the draft. This includes the Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Shreyanka Patil who won the purple cap and was a key player for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in WPL 2024.

WBBL10 is set to commence on 27th October, soon after the conclusion of the Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. 

The post Harmanpreet Kaur finds no takers; 6 Indians get picked for upcoming WBBL season appeared first on Cricket Country.

Dottin top-scored with a 44-ball 62 at the top of the order to help Supernovas to 165 for seven after being put in to bat. With the ball, she took two wickets for 28 runs in her four overs to play a major role in restricting Velocity to 161 for eight. South African batter Laura Wolvaardt almost single-handedly took Velocity within striking distance of a sensational win with a blazing 65 not out off 40 balls, which included five fours and three sixes.

Wolvaardt, who became the only batter in the tournament to score two half centuries, launched a ferocious onslaught in the death overs with a flurry of boundaries to raise hopes of a stunning victory for Velocity. Number 10 batter Simran Bahadur (20 not out off 10 balls) also chipped with three successive fours in the penultimate over. Velocity needed 17 runs from the final over but left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone (2/28) conceded just 12 runs to win the match despite Wolvaardt hitting a six off the first ball.

If Englishwoman Ecclestone made life difficult for Velocity batters in the first half of the run chase, Australian leg-spinner Alana King (3/32) did the same in the back end. King was on a hat-trick after dismissing Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav off consecutive balls in the 16th over.

Supernovas had won the first two editions of the tournament in 2018 and 2019 before losing to Trailblazers in the final in 2020. The tournament was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Velocity had finished runners-up in 2019.

Velocity made a blazing start to their run chase with openers Shafali Verma (15) and Yastika Bhatia (3) scoring 28 runs in the first two overs but that proved to be the only time the Deepti Sharma-led side was ahead in the match.

They suffered a batting collapse with half of them back in the hut for 64 runs in the 11th over. They were reduced to 38 for three, and things got only worse from there.

Earlier, Dottin made full use of an early reprieve to score a blistering half-century and propel Supernovas.

The 30-year-old Dottin was dropped on 13 by Sneh Rana off Deepti Sharma in the fourth over, and she made Velocity pay for that costly mistake by making 62 off 44 balls, which was studded with one four and four sixes.

The experienced campaigner stitched 73 runs for the opening wicket with Priya Punia (28) and added 58 for the second wicket with in-form captain Harmanpreet Kaur (43 off 29 balls).

For Velocity, captain Deepti Sharma, Kate Cross and Simran Bahadur took two wickets apiece, while Ayabonga Khaka got one. The Supernovas could only score 34 runs in the last five overs while losing five wickets.

Dottin and Punia gave the Supernovas a flying start, scoring at a brisk pace and reaching 46 for no loss in the powerplay.

Punia hit a six off Cross in the third over but her partner Dottin did even better, smashing consecutive maximums in the sixth over bowled by Rana. Punia was going strong when she got out in the 10th over bowled by Simran Bahadur, after smashing a six.

Captain Kaur, the tournament’s highest scorer, came out and straightaway began collecting the runs, hitting a six off Rana in the 12th over and following it up with two maximums in the 14th over bowled by Yadav. In the next over, Velocity captain Deepti struck as she bowled Dottin.

The Supernovas suffered a batting collapse in the death overs as they lost four wickets for the addition of just 11 runs.

Pooja Vastrakar (5) was cleaned up by Ayabonga Khaka in the 17th over before Cross claimed two wickets — that of Kaur and Sophie Ecclestone (2) — in the space of three balls in the next over.

The post Deandra Dottin’s All-Round Show Powers Supernovas To 3rd Women’s T20 Challenge Title appeared first on Cricket Country.

Bhatia had shifted to three as Shafali Verma opened the innings, brought in for all-rounder Deepti Sharma. The move paid off as Bhatia played a crucial hand in stabilising India’s innings.

“Two wickets had fallen so Mithali and I had a chat to go at 4-5 runs an over and not lose a wicket. I’ve been batting at No. 3 in the past, in domestics and in Australia so it was no surprise for me when (coach Ramesh Powar) sir told me yesterday that I’d bat at No. 3,” said Bhatia in a mid-innings chat with the broadcasters.

Bhatia, who got her second ODI fifty in 77 balls, further felt that the score posted by India could be defendable and hinted that the match could go down the wire.

“(Darcie) Brown bowled really well and due to windy conditions they were finding it difficult to control their line. I think it will be a close game and it looks defendable.”

The post Women’s World Cup: Had a Chat With Mithali Raj to Score 4-5 Runs An Over, Says Yastika Bhatia appeared first on Cricket Country.

Apart from the centuries and an 184-run stand between the two centurions, Smriti had a 49-run opening partnership with Yastika (31 off 21 balls), who was the more aggressive of the two. “Enjoyed it definitely. The positivity with which Yastika started gave me a lot of confidence. We lost three wickets so I had to hold back. Very uncharacteristic innings for me as I generally go on a 90-100 strike rate. So, I’m happy with the way Harry (Harmanpreet) and I played,” said Smriti in the mid-innings chat with broadcasters.

Talking about India’s refreshed approach with the bat, Smriti revealed that changes had to be made after the loss to New Zealand, where India were overcautious.

“This was an attempt to change ways after the last game, the discussion in the team meeting was to score, keep the momentum high, and from the first over, Yastika did that brilliantly and gave us a 20-30 run cushion after we lost 3 wickets to settle in.”

Asked about where she would rank her second century against the West Indies in World Cups, Smriti remarked, “Can’t rank this among all my hundreds as my memory is bad. But since it came in after the loss of wickets and a loss in the previous game, it’s in the top-2 or top-3. I would say this is among my top three knocks. After the last game we really wanted to come back strong and considering the situation, I would rate this knock a bit higher (among her five ODI tons).”

The post Women’s World Cup: Positivity With Which Yastika Bhatia Started Gave a Lot of Confidence, Says Smriti Mandhana appeared first on Cricket Country.