One of world cricket’s most elegant batters, Smriti Mandhana, late in September surpassed the 3000 runs milestone in ODI cricket, becoming the 3rd and the fastest Indian player to achieve the landmark and now has a milestone more to her name, but for a change, this time in the shortest, T20I format.
Smriti Mandhana back in 2013, in the 3rd T20I game against Bangladesh at Vadodara, debuted for India in the shortest format and straightaway had laid a good impression by top scoring with a score of 39(36). Fast forward to 2022, Smriti Mandhana in Bangladesh against Thailand in the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup is playing her 100th T20I game.
The regular feature in the Indian side across all formats has done the country proud on several occasions. Smriti in the T20I format in 99 matches (96 innings) has scored 2373 runs at an average of 26.96, a strike rate of 122.19 and has got as many as 17 half-centuries to her name with the highest score of 86.
In the ongoing 8th edition of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, Smriti Mandhana has got to the milestone of making 100 T20I appearances. She is only the 2nd Indian player after Harmanpreet Kaur (135) to achieve this milestone in WT20Is.
Only the 2nd 🇮🇳Indian to achieve 100th T20I milestone.
• Harmanpreet Kaur: 135*
• Smriti Mandhana: 100*
• Mithali Raj: 89#CricketTwitter #WomensAsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/ruhTZOGz8S— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 11, 2022
The day got a touch special as she walked out to lead the side in Harmanpreet Kaur’s absence and she also was presented with her 100th T20I Cap and a memento by teammates, Richa Ghosh and Shafali Verma.
Smriti Mandhana hasn’t had a lot to do in the ongoing Asia Cup as the team currently is going through an experimenting period and in doing so, senior faces have been given regularly rested to give enough games to young players in the unit. She’d started the tournament with a score of 6 against Sri Lanka in the opener and in her side’s most recent game against Bangladesh, posted a fine 47(38).
India have qualified for the semi-finals of Women’s Asia Cup 2022 and will play their next match on 13th October 2022. The opponents are yet to be decided.
