Pakistani spinner Sadia Iqbal has ascended to the pinnacle of women’s T20I cricket, regaining her position as the world’s number one bowler following the latest update to the ICC Women’s Player Rankings.
According to a report today, Iqbal’s remarkable climb back to the top spot comes on the back of her outstanding efforts in the recent three-match T20I series against South Africa, where she overtook Australia”s Annabel Sutherland and India”s Deepti Sharma.
The left-armer finished as the series” joint-highest wicket-taker with a tally of five dismissals. Her definitive spell of 3/18 in the series conclusion in Benoni proved instrumental, providing the necessary momentum to elevate her two places and reclaim the premier ranking.
This marks a return to a familiar position for Iqbal, who first secured the top ranking towards the end of 2024 and held it again last year, before Australian seamer Sutherland re-claimed the position last month.
There was additional cause for celebration for Pakistan as experienced captain Fatima Sana made significant strides in the rankings. She surged an impressive 31 places to an equal 28th position among T20I batters and climbed five spots to enter the top six all-rounders.
Sana’s promotion was fuelled by a Player of the Match performance in the final contest against the Proteas, where she struck a decisive unbeaten 47 from just 30 deliveries and contributed with a pair of valuable wickets to secure the victory.
One of those dismissals was the prized scalp of Laura Wolvaardt; however, the South African captain will be buoyed by her own progress, moving up one place to fourth on the list for T20I batters.
Meanwhile, a trio of Indian bowlers also saw their rankings improve following the opening T20I of their series in Australia. Renuka Singh advanced six places to fifth, Arundhati Reddy leaped 19 rungs to an equal 16th, and Shree Charani progressed eight spots to 39th after their performances in the rain-affected match in Sydney.