Seasoned all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner's commanding century and disciplined effort from the bowlers helped defending champions Australia thrash trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand by 89 runs in their ICC Women's World Cup opening match in Indore on Wednesday.
The World Cup winners' medal is the latest addition to Verma's trophy cabinet, which also includes the 2023 Under-19 World Cup, the 2022 Asia Cup, the 2022 Asian Games gold medal and the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver.
Australia's batters provided their experienced bowling unit with sufficient runs to defend on a slow wicket and register a comprehensive 60-run win over New Zealand in the Women's T20 World Cup in Sharjah on Tuesday.
The clash was a record-breaking one. Right from individual pieces of glory to team milestones, India opener Smriti Mandhana's records to Australia once again re-writing history books to justify the seven titles in their trophy cabinet, this match had it all.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be determined to give their home fans a parting victory when they take on a fatigued Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru on Saturday, before the Women's Premier League moves to Lucknow for its third leg.
India were served well by their top order batters with each of them hitting their stride to make significant contributions, even as the middle order players did not get going.
India will search for a spark of magic reminiscent of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's legendary knock eight years ago as they take on the mighty Australia in the World Cup semi-final on Thursday.
Gujarat Giants, on the other hand, have been heavily reliant on Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who has been their standout performer.
Captain Alyssa Healy struck a magnificent unbeaten 113 to lead Australia to a crushing 10-wicket win over Bangladesh, virtually sealing his side's semifinal spot in the Women's World Cup, in Visakhapatnam, on Thursday.
Deepti Sharma breaks into the top-five of the latest ICC ODI Women's all-rounders rankings.
The franchise chose to retain only former Under-19 World Cup winner Shweta Sehrawat as part of a fresh approach for the upcoming season.
Ashleigh Gardner hailed Australia's strength in depth as key to giving her the freedom to score her match-winning century against New Zealand in the women's World Cup match in Indore on Wednesday.
India were expecting a target around 380 against Australia but Phoebe Litchfield's dismissal followed by a "very good spell" from spinner Shree Charani turned the Women's ODI World Cup semifinal in the hosts' favour, said all-rounder Amanjot Kaur.
Even as Australia pressed hard to regain control with key breakthroughs, Jemimah's focus never wavered. Her shot selection was immaculate and temperament unflappable.
Jemimah Rodrigues played the innings of her life, slamming a century for the ages as India pulled off a record chase to storm into the Women's World Cup final after a five-wicket victory over defending champions Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
Deepti has been inside the top 10 rankings for T20I bowlers for the majority of the last six years, but the 27-year-old has never held the top position "despite the fact she has maintained great consistency in recent times."
Melie Kerr made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Kiwi recipient of the prestigious Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy
Having retained the majority of their squad, MI will be the team to beat given their formidable batting, but Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals will be out to spoil their party.
Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet Kaur were some of the big names retained by their respective franchises for the next edition of the Women's Premier League.
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur rued a stunning lower-order collapse as world champions Australia chased down a record 331 to seal a three-wicket win in the Women's World Cup, Visakhapatnam, on Sunday.
India's Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma have retained their third positions in the latest ICC Women's T20I batter and bowlers' rankings respectively, released on Tuesday.
Jemimah Rodrigues produced a sensational knock that included 14 fours as India pulled off the biggest successful chase in women's ODI history with nine balls to spare.
Healy's injury forces Australia rethink ahead of Women's World Cup clash against England
As India chase history at home in Navi Mumbai, while Laura Wolvaardt's South Africa will look to script their own fairytale, by finally breaking their run of heartbreaks at ICC events.
Defending champions Australia delivered a commanding performance to bowl out Pakistan for 82 and then cruised to a nine-wicket victory, virtually sealing a spot in the women's T20 World Cup semifinals, in Dubai on Friday.
Jemimah Rodrigues struck a sensational century as hosts India reached the ICC Women's World Cup Final with a magical run-chase against Australia
Richa Ghosh's career-best 96 and Deepti Sharma's 5/38 went in vain as Australia Women clinched a thrilling three-run win to take an unassailable 2-0 lead against India in their three-match ODI series in Mumbai on Saturday.
Smriti Mandhana smashed the second-fastest ODI century by an Indian woman as the hosts handed Australia their heaviest defeat -- a 102-run thrashing -- in the second ODI.
Skipper Alyssa Healy led from the front with a masterful 142 as Australia pulled off a record chase of 331 to beat India by three wickets in their Women's World Cup group match on Sunday.
After being outplayed in the opener, Harmanpreet Kaur and her team roared back with a stunning 102-run victory, which was Australia's heaviest defeat in terms of runs. It was also India's first win over them in 12 matches.
Delhi Capitals will be aiming to claim the top spot, while UP Warriorz will be desperate to register their first victory of the season when the two sides face off in the Women's Premier League in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Shafali Verma (44) and Jess Jonassen's (61 not out) fireworks underlined Delhi Capitals' complete domination as they crushed Gujarat Giants by six wickets.
A resolute South Africa came up with a clinical performance to shock mighty Australia by eight wickets and enter the final of the Women's T20 World Cup in Dubai on Thursday.
struck 105 in the final match of the series against Australia in Perth and 54 in the first game of the ongoing T20I rubber against the West Indies in Mumbai to headline the latest rankings
Opener Smriti Mandhana's elegant century went in vain as India lost to Australia by 83 runs in the third Women's ODI to suffer a 0-3 series whitewash
Kashvee Gautam becomes first uncapped player to fetch Rs 2 cr
Smriti Mandhana closed in on the top spot while occupying the second slot in both the ICC T20I and ODI batting rankings released
India put up a dismal show with the bat as Australia stamped their superiority over the visitors with a five-wicket win in the first Women's ODI in Brisbane on Thursday.
Australia have now made it to the semi-finals of the global T20 tournament in all its nine editions held so far since 2009 in England.
