The Bangladesh Women’s team cricketers made a significant stride in International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings after sealing a berth in the ODI World Cup to be held later this year in India.Â
In the latest ODI rankings released today, three bowlers of the Bangladesh women's team-- Nahida Akhtar, Rabeya Khan and Marufa Akhtar--attained career-high rating points.Â
The likes of Sharmin Akhtar, Ritu Moni and Marufa Akhtar scored career-high rating points in batting.
Left-arm spinner Nahida, who took four wickets in Bangladesh's third match against Scotland, has moved up two places to number 10. Nahida's rating points are now 618, eclipsing her previous highest 616, which Nahida got last week. Although she got the highest points in the rating, this is not Nahida's highest position. She was ranked seventh in 2014.
Bangladesh leg-spinner Rabeya, who took six wickets like Nahida in the tournament, moved up one place to number 22 and now has 512 points. These was the highest achieved by her in terms of rating points and ranking position.
Another leg-spinner Fahima has moved up two places to number 46.
Bangladesh pacer Marufa has moved up 11 places to a career-high 49. She has 392 rating points, which is highest for her so far. Marufa has also moved up in batting by leapfrogging six places to 85. Her rating points are now a career-high 317.
In batting, Sharmin Akhtar Supta has moved up eight places to a career-high 21st. Sharmin, who scored the second-highest 266 runs in the qualifiers, has a rating point of 555. At the end of the match against the West Indies, her rating point was a career-high 559.
Among the Bangladesh batters, only captain Nigar Sultana Joty is above her. But Joty has dropped two places to 19th. Another batter, Ritu Moni, has moved up 15 places to 73rd. Although it was not at a career-high position, Ritu has attained the highest rating points (339).
West Indian batsman Hayley Matthews, who put Bangladesh in danger with a 29-ball 70 against Thailand, has moved up two places to fifth. South Africa's Laura is the top batter in the ODI rankings. England's Sophie Ecclestone is number one in bowling while Australia's Ash Gardner is the number one all-rounder.
Bangladesh had to wait after losing to Pakistan in the last match of the World Cup qualifiers in Lahore. In the last match, West Indies overhauled the target of 167 runs set by Thailand in 10.5 overs, showing an incredible batting effort, but still they stayed behind Bangladesh by the smallest margin (0.013) in net run rate.