Chamari Athapaththu reaches career-best rankings, surpasses Shafali Verma after Sri Lanka's win over Pakistan

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu achieved her career-best spot in the for batters after helping her team beat Pakistan in the three-match T20I series on Tuesday, August 4. Athapaththu scored 39 off 22 balls and 40 off 15 deliveries in the first two T20Is to seal the series against the Women in Green.

She made 34 from 33 deliveries in the third and final T20I of the series, which Pakistan won in a consolation victory in Dambulla. Her exploits in the series saw the 36-year-old achieve her career-best place in the ICC T20I batters' rankings, jumping a place to sixth.

Her performances in the series saw Athapaththu move from seventh place to the sixth spot in the standings. She moved past India's Shafali Verma and now has a rating of 729 and sits behind India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, who has a rating of 746.

Australia star wicketkeeper batter Beth Mooney leads the rankings with a 785 rating, followed by her compatriot Georgia Voll in second, Laura Wolvaardt in third and Hayley Matthews in fourth.

Meanwhile, centurion from the first T20I, Imesha Dulani, made huge jumps in the T20I rankings. She made an unbeaten 101 in the first match to help her team chase down 177 in the opener. The opening batter became just the second Sri Lankan to score a century in T20Is and has now been rewarded big for her effort.

Dulani has scaled 33 places in the T20I rankings and reached the 23rd spot as she threatens to enter the top 20. Dulani has a rating of 603 and is Sri Lanka's second-highest ranked T20I batter after Athapaththu.

The Asian champions, the Sri Lankan side, won the T20I series against Pakistan 2-1. They clinched the assignment in the first two matches themselves with impressive victories over the Fatima Sana-led side. Dulani's masterful 101 from 64 balls helped the team chase 177 in the opener, while they hunted down 178 with a complete batting effort in the next one.

The Sri Lankan side went down to the Women in Green in the third and final T20I of the series on Tuesday, after being restricted to just 113/6 in the 20 overs. They gave the Pakistan batters a fight for the money as they took six wickets, but the small score could not bail them out this time as the visitors won by four wickets with 10 balls in hand.