Smriti Mandhana’s reign in international cricket shows no signs of slowing down as she completes 8000 runs following her century in the third ODI against Australia.
India’s iconic cricketer, Mandhana has achieved one more feat as she became the second Indian after Mithali Raj and sixth overall to complete 8000 international runs. The left-handed batter achieved this monumental record during the third ODI against Australia where Mandhana’s brilliant century stood out despite India’s 83-run loss.
Mandhana also became the youngest batter (28y,146d) to surpass the 8000-run mark in women’s international cricket. It was also a record ninth ODI century which came in her 91st innings making her the third fastest to reach the landmark.
The left-handed batter made her international debut in April 2013 against Bangladesh in a T20I, scoring 39 runs in a match-winning cause. It was followed by her ODI debut in the same month against the same opponent scoring 25. She scored a fifty in her Test debut in August 2014 against England.
From her early days, Mandhana showed immense potential scoring her first ODI fifty in just her fourth ODI innings against Sri Lanka. Her maiden century in the ODI format came in February 2016 against Australia, when she scored 102 at Hobart, though in a losing cause but received the Player of the Match award. It was in the 2017 Women’s World Cup that Mandhana truly announced herself on the global stage amassing 232 runs, which included a fifty and a century as she helped India reach the final.
After two ordinary T20 World Cups in 2014 and 2016, Mandhana was India’s second leading run scorer in the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup, aggregating 178 runs in five matches and was also the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2018.
Her ability to adapt to different formats made her an integral part of the Indian batting set-up and only recently became the first Indian batter to complete 3500 runs in the T20I format.
The left-handed batter went on to score her maiden Test century in 2021 during India’s tour to Australia in the one-off Test and also received the Player of the Match.
Mandhana has had a memorable 2024 year so far, across formats, registering her highest Test score – 149 which came against South Africa in June 2024, completing the 7000-run mark in June and adding another 1000 runs to that in a span of less than six months, with 512 runs in the ODI format, 348 in the T20Is and 149 in her only Test.
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