Visakhapatnam, Dec 22: Star Indian opener Smriti Mandhana scripted history on Sunday as she became the first Indian woman to surpass 4,000 runs in T20I cricket. The left handed batter achieved the milestone during the first match of the five match T20I series against Sri Lanka Women at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
Mandhana, who scored 25 runs in the match, became the second woman overall to reach 4,000 T20I runs after New Zealand’s Suzie Bates (4,716 runs). She also became the fastest woman to the milestone in terms of balls faced, reaching it in 3,227 deliveries, compared to Bates’ 3,675 balls. Mandhana is now just 42 runs away from 10,000 international runs, having accumulated 4,007 T20I runs, 5,322 ODI runs, and 629 Test runs to date.
India’s commanding win in the series opener was powered by Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored an unbeaten 69 off 44 balls, including 10 boundaries, to help India chase down 122 in just 14.4 overs. Rodrigues stitched crucial partnerships with Mandhana (54-run stand for the second wicket) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (55-run unbeaten stand for the third wicket), guiding India to an eight-wicket victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Earlier, Sri Lanka were restricted to 121/6 in 20 overs, with opener Vishmi Gunaratne top-scoring at 39. Among the bowlers, Deepti Sharma was the most economical with 1/20 in four overs, while Kranti Gaud (1/23) and Shree Charani (1/30) picked up one wicket each.
Brief Scores:
Sri Lanka Women: 121/6 in 20 overs (Vishmi Gunaratne 39, Harshitha Samarawickrama 21; Deepti Sharma 1/20)
India Women: 122/2 in 14.4 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 69*, Smriti Mandhana 25; Inoka Ranaweera 1/17) — India won by 8 wickets