The 28-year-old stylish, elegant, left-hand opening batter and the current vice-captain of the Indian women’s team Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana completed another landmark in her glorious T20I career. She completed 3,500 runs in the T20I format for India. She becomes the first Indian women to achieve the landmark in the T20I format.
Smriti made her international debut in a T20I on 5th April 2013 against Bangladesh. Over the years, she has established herself as one of the mainstays of the Indian batting lineup, especially at the top of the order. Ahead of this game, in 135 innings, she accumulated 3493 runs at a decent strike rate of 122.51 and an impressive average of 28.86. Her tally of runs includes 26 half-centuries so far in the T20I format.
She achieved the milestone of 3,500 runs in the T20I format, on the 3rd ball of the 2nd over of the run chase against New Zealand, on 4th October 2024 in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, India’s first game of the tournament. The over was bowled by the 23-year-old right-arm off-spinner Eden Carson, who also dismissed Shafali Verma on the very first ball of that over.
Her best performance with the bat came on 20th February 2023 against Ireland led by skipper Laura Delany at St George’s Park, Gqeberha when she scored a crucial half-century (87 off 56 balls) with the bat. Her knock played a crucial role in helping her side get over the line in that rain-curtailed encounter.
She completed 3,000 runs in the T20I format on 5th January 2024 at the DY Patil Stadium in the 1st T20I of the three-match series against Australia when she scored a brilliant half-century (54 off 52 balls) for her side.