New Delhi: Indian women’s team swashbuckling batter and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has turned 28 on Thursday, July 18, 2024. To celebrate the birthday of the stylish Indian opener, we bring you some of her accomplishments with the game in her 11 years of international cricket.
The player from Maharashtra’s Sangli district is a well-known star in the Indian women’s cricket team at present. She made her international debut on April 5, 2013 in a T20 International match against Bangladesh women at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara. She made 39 runs off 36 balls on her debut innings as India women went on to win by 10 runs.
Till date, the left-handed batter has represented the Indian women’s cricket team in seven Tests, 85 One-Day Internationals, and 136 T20 International matches, having accumulated 7,534 runs across formats with the help of 54 half-centuries and nine hundreds.
Smriti announced herself into the domestic circuit by becoming the first Indian women’s cricketer to hit a double-century. While using the bat of legendary Indian batter Rahul Dravid, a 17-year-old Smriti smashed an unbeaten 224 off 150 balls in a West Zone Women’s U-19 One-Day game in October 2013.
Since then, the Indian opener has acclaimed herself as an established player of the game and etched her name in record books several times. Smriti scored her first international century against Australia women on February 5, 2016, in Hobart. Her 102 off 109 balls helped India to set up a moderate score of 252 for 8 in the second ODI, though the ton went in vain after the hosts registered a six-wicket victory.
Recently in June this year, Smriti became the first Indian batter to register back-to-back centuries in ODIs during the three-match home series against South Africa women in Bengaluru. Overall, she became the 10th batter to achieve the milestone.
Smriti is the first Indian women’s player to score a Test and ODI hundred in Australia. Five years after her maiden ODI century in Hobart, Smriti hit 127 in the first innings against Meg Lanning & Co. in the one-off (Pink-Ball Day-Night) Test in Carrara.
With her 3585 runs from 85 ODI matches, Smriti Mandhana has the second most runs by an Indian batter in Women’s ODIs after former skipper Mithali Raj (7805). She is also the second most run-getter in Women’s T20Is with 3320 runs in 136 games just behind her skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s tally of 3344 runs.
Interestingly, Smriti Mandhana has the fewest ducks in women’s ODIs. She has been out on a nought on just two instance from her 85-innings career thus far, accumulating to 42.5% in terms of ducks. Only New Zealand’s Katey Martin’s 47.5% (2 ducks in 95 ODI innings) is a better record than Smriti’s in this list.
Smriti Mandhana’s captaincy record
During the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies, Smriti Mandhana was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team. She became the vice-captain in both white-ball formats for India after the retirement of legendary captain Mithali Raj in 2022.
She is yet to captain India in Tests and ODIs but has stood in as captain in 13 T20Is for the Women in Blue from 2019 to 2023 in the absence of Harmanpreet. India have won seven matches and lost five under Smriti’s captaincy with one match showing no result. This means Smriti Mandhana holds a 58.33% in Women’s T20Is as captain so far.
During the 2022 Asian Games (held in 2023) in Hangzhou, China, Harmanpreet Kaur was slapped with two-match suspension from the ICC for discipline issue, eventually paving the way for Smriti to lead the team in the quarter-final and semi-final stages. India won both the matches against Malaysia women (quarters) and Bangladesh women (semis) under Smriti’s captaincy before Harmanpreet returned as skipper in the final against Sri Lanka, leading the side to gold medal in the continental showpiece event.
Smriti Mandhana led Royal Challengers Bangalore women’s team to the title in the second edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024. With eight wins in 18 WPL matches as captain, Smriti has the third best record by a WPL skipper (44.44%) behind Meg Lanning (66.66%) and Harmanpreet Kaur (70.58) with players to have captain in more than five matches.
Indian women’s team swashbuckling batter and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has turned 28 on Thursday, July 18, 2024. To celebrate the birthday of the stylish Indian opener, we bring you some of her accomplishments with the game in her 11 years of international cricket. Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
