Indian women move up to third in ICC T20 rankings

Bengaluru, October 2: The Indian women's cricket team has displaced New Zealand to move up to the third in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 rankings while they retained the second spot in the One-day Internationals (ODIs) table.

Australia and England retain the top two positions in T20s, their points tally remaining 291 and 280, respectively.

India (270), who finished as runners-up in this year's ICC Women's T20 World Cup held in Australia, where they lost by 85 runs to the hosts in the finals, are just a point ahead of New Zealand, an ICC statement said.

In the ODI rankings, India (121) and England (119) have lost four points each, while clinging on to their second and third positions respectively.

Six-time world champions and winners of both editions of the ICC Women's Championship, Australia's stellar display during the rating period saw them win 20 of 21 ODIs, increasing their tally by eight points to 160.

Their massive lead of 39 points over second-placed India is the largest by any team (men or women) in any form of the game.

It comes on the back of 3-0 series wins over India, Pakistan, New Zealand, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and an earlier 2-1 victory over England in 2017.

At the fourth spot is South Africa (107), who enjoy a 13-point lead over New Zealand (94), with the West Indies (85), Pakistan (77), Bangladesh (61) and Sri Lanka (47) following in that order.

Three teams -- Denmark, Belgium and Qatar -- have lost their place on the rankings table. Denmark and Belgium have not played any matches since October 2017 while Qatar have played fewer than the required six during the period.

The biggest improvement in rankings has been registered by Brazil, who are up 11 places to 27th, after a gain of 15 rating points, while the biggest ranking fall has been for Malaysia, who are down from 31st to 38th.

The rankings which exclude results from the 2016-17 season, are based on the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons at 50 per cent and the 2019-20 matches at 100 per cent.

(With ICC Media/PTI inputs)