Rediff

Dubai, Oct 30: India women's cricket team captain Jhulan Goswami will wear a golden armband during the upcoming five-match one-day series against Australia to celebrate her number-one ranking in the bowlers' list of ICC ODI rankings.

"It will be a big thing for me in my career to wear the golden armband for the first match. It is really special and I am hopeful that I will maintain my standards and will do well for my country," the pacer said.

Australia and India will take the first shot at the recently introduced ICC ODI Women's Player rankings when they go head to head in the series which starts in Sydney from Friday.

Claire Taylor of England leads the rankings for batters by a distance with former India captain Mithali Raj second.

And if Mithali succeeds in repeating the same form she showed on the last tour to England this summer where she was the leading run-getter with 162 runs, the 25-year-old from Jodhpur would narrow the difference with Taylor.

Jaya Sharma (13th) and Anjum Chopra (15th) are the other India batters in the top 20.

Goswami, who won the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year Award in 2007, is followed by England's Isa Guha in the bowlers' list.

Commenting on the importance of the series against Australia, Jhulan said, "It is a very important series for us as these will be the last international matches that we will play before the ICC Women's World Cup."

"The last series [in England] was disappointing so we want to bounce back and do well and lift our confidence ahead of the World Cup," she added.

India's Rumeli Dhar (12th), Amita Sharma (13th) and Neetu David (14th) are other bowlers inside the top 20.