New Delhi: Indian women cricket team opener Smriti Mandhana on Sunday broke the record for most international runs scored by a batter in a calendar year in women’s cricket. The left-handed batter achieved the feat during India’s emphatic 211-run victory over the West Indies in the first One-Day International match played at the newly-built Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara.
After India were asked to bat first by West Indies captain Hayley Matthews at the toss, Mandhana scored 91 runs from 102 balls to set the template for the Indian innings. Though the opener missed on the opportunity to hit her 10th century in ODI cricket, India rode on her excellent knock to post 314 for 9 in the first innings.
India went on to bowl out West Indies for a paltry 103 thanks to the incisive bowling from pacer Renuka Singh Thakur (5 for 29) as she picked her maiden five-wicket haul in the longer format of white-ball cricket.
Smriti Mandhana smashes new record in women’s cricket
Mandhana’s recent innings have helped her to accumulate her tally to 1602 runs in 33 innings across all forms of cricket in this particular calendar year powered by 10 fifties and five hundreds. She has scored 149 runs in the only Test innings played by her, 690 runs in 11 ODI innings at 62.72, and 763 runs in 21 T20I innings at a strike rate of 126.53.
Mandhana surpassed South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt’s tally of 1593 runs, which were scored in 2024 itself. Now that South Africa women don’t have any scheduled match left for the year, this means that the Indian batter will finish the year as the top run-getter across all formats of international cricket.
Who held the record for most runs in women’s cricket in a calendar year previously?
England batter Nat-Sciver Brunt held the record for most runs in women’s international cricket in a single year. She made 1346 runs with the help of three centuries and six half-centuries in 2022. Interestingly, the England player shattered the then previous record of Mandhana’s 1291 runs created in 2018.
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