The Indian women's team begins its three-ODI series against England at home on Friday in the absence of star player Harmanpreet Kaur, who has been ruled out of the series due to an ankle injury.
India will play three ODIs in New Zealand beginning January 24 as part of the ICC Women's Championship before playing three T20 Internationals.
Mithali Raj has held onto her second spot in the batting ODI rankings, while Smriti Mandhana has risen four slots to take the eighth spot.
The spotlight among the batters was on Beth Mooney. She rocketed up eight places to break into the top ten, sitting at No. 8, just below compatriot Meg Lanning by nine rating points.
Host of match-winners and Dhoni's expertise make India favourites, says Mithali Raj
The Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj today recalled her journey to the top and revealed that as an Indian player she had travelled unreserved in a train.
India's One-day captain Mithali Raj and top batter Harmanpreet Kaur were placed 2nd and 10th in the ICC batswomen's rankings released after the World Cup qualifier that ended on Tuesday.
'Captains are asked to sit, so just do it. I have done it in Faisalabad. I didn't play an ODI game for 15 months when I was probably the best performer in one-day cricket. It happens in life. The best in the world are at times shown the door'
Indian women's ODI captain Mithali Raj said cricket has helped her deal with the adversities of life.
Mithali Raj trained in classical dance for eight years until she decided one day it was time to follow her heart and exhibit footwork of another kind.
Veteran Mithali Raj's retirement from the T20 format paved the way for the induction of youngsters such as 15-year-old rookie Shafali Verma in the Indian women's team for the upcoming home T20 Internationals against South Africa.
"I am extremely happy on this association with Viacom18 Motion Pictures. Hoping that this movie inspires more people, especially young girls to take up sports as a career," a statement from the cricketer read.
Indian women's ODI captain Mithali Raj stressed on the need to bring focus back on cricket after hogging the limelight for the wrong reasons following a controversial ending to their World T20 campaign.
India's captain Mithali Raj says youngsters like Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh have shown that they have the ability to compete at the highest level and the last few series have helped the team figure out its composition ahead of women's ODI World Cup next month.
As soon as she scored 34 runs, the Indian skipper became the leading run-getter in One-Day Internationals, going past England player Charlotte Edwards's record of 5992 ODI runs.
'Whatever we decided, we decided for the team. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, no regrets. I'm proud of the way my girls played through the tournament'
India captain Mithali Raj came out in support of starting a women's version of the cash-rich Indian Premier League after having spoken against it earlier.
Mithali Raj decided to quit T20 Internationals after a career spanning 89 matches
Mithali Raj played a captain's knock to guide India Women to a consolation four-wicket win over England
Mithali was left out of the team despite being fit and Kaur had gone on to justify the call even after the humiliating eight-wicket loss on Friday. Both the senior players along with manager Trupti Bhattacharya met BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim.
Mithali Raj rued the missed opportunity to not only complete a 3-0 series whitewash against a quality side like England, but also lose out on crucial two points in the ICC Women's Championship.
Skipper Mithali Raj led from the front with an 89-run knock to save the Indian women's cricket team from a whitewash by guiding it to a comfortable five-wicket in the third and final ODI against Australia in Hobart on Sunday. The Indians, having already surrendered the series by losing the first two matches, managed to end the tour on a positive note with a consolation victory. Electing to bat after winning the toss, the Australian team lost a couple of early wickets before half-centuries by Elyse Perry (50) and Alex Blackwell (60) helped the team post 231/7 in their 50 overs. Blackwell's 60 from 64 balls was noteworthy given that Australia's strong batting line-up struggled to score freely in the face of a disciplined bowling display from India.
The first five games of the ICC event have caused a lot of movement in the women's ODI player rankings with Australia skipper Meg Lanning climbing up two spots in the rankings for batters.
Sania Mirza, Mithali Raj and Pullela Gopichand, on Wednesday, sent out a strong message on encouraging women players and developing essential infrastructure to promote sports in the country
India ODI captain Mithali Raj gears up to make a 'fresh start' under the able guidance of new coach WV Raman during the upcoming tour of New Zealand.
Post 50-over success, Mithali says India must play more Tests
'This is the beginning of good times for women's cricket.'
Alaya F, Saiee Manjrekar and Mithali Raj made their ramp debuts at Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2020.
Her entire cricketing journey flashed before former spinner Neetu David's eyes when she became only the second Indian woman to be inducted into the ICC's Hall of Fame.
Mithali Raj held on to the top spot in the batting list, while Jhulan Goswami was the best-placed Indian in the bowling chart after climbing a spot to third in the latest ICC ODI rankings for women cricketers.
Mithali Raj will lead the India Blue team in the Senior Women's T20 Challenger Trophy, beginning August 14 in Alur, Bengaluru.
Mithali is currently the highest run-getter in ODIs. She also led the team to the ICC Women's World Cup final in England, where they lost to host England.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India should not "wait forever" to start the women's Indian Premier League, said India women's ODI captain Mithali Raj, urging the BCCI to make it happen next year on a smaller scale before gradually developing it.
There are indications that Mithali may not be selected in all the matches against the 'White Ferns' and she has been made aware by a senior member of the team management.
Australia women's coach Matthew Mott admitted that his team were kept under the pump all through the Test and 'we never really got back in the game'.
The ever-improving Indian women cricketers could get a chance to become household names, just like tennis star Sania Mirza and shuttle queen Saina Nehwal, by televising their matches, feels national team captain Mithali Raj.
A captain's knock by Mithali Raj enabled the Indian women's cricket team beat New Zealand by eight wickets in the fourth ODI in Bengaluru and level the five-match series 2-2.
India skipper Mithali Raj said she knew it would not be easy for Pakistan to chase down 170 as the pitch deteriorated in the second innings during their ICC Women's World Cup match in Derby on Sunday.
India will meet England in the final of the ICC Women's World Cup on Sunday at Lords.
India beat England by eight wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match women's series between the countries.
