In a year that will be remembered for India finally ending their wait for a World Cup title, two of their stalwarts led the way in the batting and bowling charts for women’s One Day Internationals. Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma was the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the 50-over format across 2025, and unsurprisingly had superb World Cup campaigns too.
In the batting department, Mandhana finished as the top run-scorer for the second straight calendar year. In 23 innings, she scored 1,362 runs at a stunning average of 61.9 and a strike rate of 109.92. She crossed 50 ten times and converted five of those into centuries. Five centuries in the calendary year is also a new record in women’s ODIs but Tazmin Brits of South Africa was the first to get there, and her captain Laura Wolvaardt also scored five. Wolvaardt, who also had a sensational World Cup scoring centuries in the semifinal and final, finished second behind Mandhana on 1,174 runs.
In the third place, Mandhana’s opening partner at the start of the World Cup Pratika Rawal scored 976 runs, which included two centuries. Her unfortunate injury in the league stage against Bangladesh notwithstanding, the Delhi batter had a year to remember, piling on the runs with Mandhana in many a marathon opening stand. India had three entries in the top five, with Jemimah Rodrigues registering 771 runs, propped up by that sensational unbeaten century (127*) against Australia in the semifinal.
Among bowlers, it was a year of spinners. Deepti, player of the tournament at the World Cup, finished with 39 wickets from 23 matches at an average of 27.1 and picking up a five-for. South Africa’s Nonkululeko Mlaba was second with 35 wickets in 19 matches while Sophie Ecclestone was third with 28 wickets in 13 innings, the same tally as Sneh Rana who took 17 matches for her 28. Alana King rounded up the all-spin top five, the Aussie leg spinner picking up 25 in 13 matches, including a sensational 7/18 in Indore against South Africa at the World Cup.
Comments are closed.