Indian star batter Jemimah Rodrigues‘ maiden International century in the second ODI against Ireland saw her achieve a career-best position in the ICC rankings for women batters.
Jemimah had slammed 102 off 91 balls to end a seven-year-old wait for an International ton. On the back of her stellar outing, which also had an eye-catching guitar-playing performance, Jemimah has rose three places to 19th in the women’s rankings for the batters.
The jolly-faced 24-year-old Indian batter was in great touch in the second game. She displayed some elegant strokes in her knock that featured 12 fours. Jemimah had put up a 183-run stand for the third wicket alongside Harleen Deol, who scored a well-made 89 and missed out on her second hundred.
On the back of their performances and half-tons from Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal, India scored 370/5, their highest-ever ODI total.
Meanwhile, there is more to cheer for Pratika as the rising youngster has now climbed 52 places in the batters’ chart to reach 65th. She has been pretty impressive in the absence of Shafali Verma at the top of the order since his debut against West Indies late last month.
The 24-year-old has piled up 290 runs in her first five ODI matches at an average of 58 with three half-centuries. She has scored back-to-back fifties in the ODI series against Ireland, having made 89 in the first match and then 67 in the second.
Meanwhile, Australia captain Alyssa Healy has also seen a big rise in the ODI batters rankings. She made 70 in the first ODI of the Women’s Ashes in Australia’s under-par run-chase of 205 against England on Sunday, January 12.
The knock sees her rise four places in the ODI batters rankings as she now moves to the fifth spot and trail leader Laura Wolvaardt, Chamari Athapaththu, Mandhana and Natalie Sciver-Brunt. Mandhana maintained her third place after scoring 41 and 73 in the first two ODIs against the Irish women. They have more opportunities to jump in the ICC rankings as India and Ireland lock horns against each other in the final ODI on Wednesday, January 15.
