Pakistan women’s left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal reclaimed her position at the top of the ICC Women’s Twenty-20 International (T20I) Bowler Rankings, Cricket’s governing body announced on Tuesday.
Sadia was also pivotal to Pakistan’s win in the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Lahore and was named in the team of the tournament for her nine scalps for an average of 16.
Her economy, like her spin twin Nashra Sandhu, was under four, and this meant that the duo provided the hosts the stranglehold during the middle overs and helped them maintain an unbeaten run throughout the tournament.
“[Sadia] was one of the leading performers at last year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and rises one spot on the rankings for T20I bowlers to claim top billing”, the ICC statement said.
She replaces England spinner Sophie Ecclestone at the top spot who sat out her side’s recent T20I series at home against the West Indies. Her team-mate Lauren Bell however, rose 13 places to jump to sixth overall on the back of her seven wickets for the series against the West Indies.
For the batters, “the big winner on the rankings for T20I batters is Hayley Matthews, with the West Indies captain making some inroads on Australia’s dominance at the top of the rankings following her Player of the Series efforts against England,” the ICC added.
Last year in the T20 World Cup, Sadia Iqbal claimed three wickets for Pakistan as the Green Team beat Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka in their opening encounter of that tournament.
On the back of that match-winning performance, she subsequently became the first Pakistani woman bowler to top the ICC rankings.
