Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has added yet another record to her name in the India women’s three-match ODI series against South Africa. However, this is nothing new for the cricketing world, as she has had an exceptional series. She started with a century in her first match, scoring 117, followed by a splendid 135 which helped India achieve their highest-ever ODI total on home soil. She concluded the series with 90 runs, unfortunately missing out on a well-deserved century.
During her innings against the Proteas while India were chasing 216, she surpassed the mark of 300 runs in a three-match series when she crossed her 47th run. Mandhana’s achievement is significant not only for its statistical weight but also for the context in which it was accomplished. She ended the series with 343 runs, which is also the highest runs in an ODI series, surpassing Laura Wolvaardt’s 335 runs in the recent Proteas’ home series against Sri Lanka. Mandhana’s previous highest runs in a three-match series also came against South Africa in an away series, where she aggregated 219 runs, including her first century against South Africa in the year 2018.
Smriti Mandhana becomes First Asian Female Player to achieve this milestone 👏 #CricketTwitter #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/qJ4Waezv6R
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 23, 2024
But the ongoing series will be one to remember for the left-handed batter. In the first ODI match, she scored 117, achieving multiple records, including surpassing 7,000 international runs and becoming the youngest overall to do so. Her hunger for runs continued in the second ODI with an impressive 135, equalling the joint-most hundreds for India in WODIs. The series should be well-known as a record-breaking one for the Maharashtrian batter.
The Indian management and the fans will hope she continues to carry this dream form into the Test match as well as the T20I series. But the larger picture will be the T20 World Cup later this year and the ODI World Cup in India with less than a year to go, where they will hope she maintains her form.
Smriti Mandhana’s milestone recorded in this series:
Highest ODI score for India women against South Africa – 136 runs in the 2nd ODI.
First Indian to score a consecutive century in the 2nd ODI.
Reaching her seventh ODI century in the 2nd ODI.
Youngest to score 7000 international runs & 2nd Indian to do so in the 1st ODI.
3rd Fastest to 3500 ODI runs (85 innings) in 3rd ODI.