India captain Mithali Raj, on Tuesday, reclaimed the No 1 spot in the ICC Women’s ODI player rankings for the 8th time in a career that has over 22 years in international cricket. The first time she got to the top was more than 16 years, back in 2005, an International Cricket Council (ICC) release said.

She reached the top after a stellar show in the three-match ODI series against England. The 38-year-old scored 59 in the second match and then guided India to a four-wicket victory in the final match of the series with an unbeaten 75.

With this, she gained four spots to reach the top in the latest weekly rankings update for women that are carried out on Tuesdays. 

Mithali Raj started the tournament against England in the 8th position. She finished the series with a total of 206 runs, helping her reclaim the position. She last topped the ranking in February 2018.

The first time she reached the number one position was in April 2005 after scoring an unbeaten 91 against New Zealand at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in Potchefstroom.

The ICC release said that the difference of more than 16 years at No.1 is the largest for any woman batter.

England’s Janette Brittin was number one for the first time in 1984 and the last time in 1995, while New Zealand’s Debbie Hockley is the only other female batter to have been No.1 more than 10 years apart. She first achieved the rankings in 1987 and for the final time in 1997.

In the other rankings, Indian opener Shafali Verma, with her scores of 44 and 19 in the last two ODIs, saw her gain 49 places to reach 71st position while Jhulan Goswami scaled four places to 53rd.

In the bowlers’ list, all-rounder Deepti Sharma is up by one place to 12th after finishing with figures of 3/47 in the final match of the ODI series against England.

For England, opener Lauren Winfield-Hill advanced 14 places to 41st position with scores of 42 and 36 while Sophia Dunkley got to 76th after scoring 73 not out and 28. She climbed a mind-boggling 86 places. 

Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone continued her ascent. She gained four places to reach a career-best sixth position among bowlers after returns of 3/33 and 2/36.

Kate Cross’ haul of 5/34 in the second match of the series helped her advance from 25th to 18th position. Nat Sciver and Sarah Glenn moved up one place to reach 22nd and 43rd positions, respectively.

In the Women’s T20I player rankings, Pakistan spinner Nida Dar, gained six spots to reach the 15th position after finishing with four wickets in a 3-match series against the West Indies. She recently became the first Pakistan woman cricketer to scalp 100 T20I wickets. 

For the West Indies, Shamilia Cornell moved up to 27th while captain Stafanie Taylor reached the 42nd position after claiming a hat-trick and finishing with 4/17 in the last match.

Among batters, Chedean Nation has progressed 17 places to 61st and Kycia Knight 20 places to 71st.