Smriti Mandhana’s Record-Breaking Innings Help India Reach Asia Cup Semi-Finals
Dubai: The Women’s Asia Cup has been played in the T20 format for 14 years, with India emerging as the most successful team after winning the title three times. India are now just two steps away from securing a fourth championship. On Thursday in Dubai, India defeated Hong Kong by a massive 137-run margin in an Asia Cup league match, powered by a record-breaking innings from Smriti Mandhana, and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals this year. Harmanpreet Kaur’s team will now face Fatima Sana’s Pakistan in their final league match on Saturday, September 5.
Smriti Hits 7 Sixes and 14 Fours
Player of the Match Smriti Mandhana scored 124 runs off just 64 balls, smashing seven sixes and 14 fours. Shafali Verma was India’s second-highest scorer with 28 runs.
Smriti Creates Two Major World Records
Smriti Mandhana has now moved to the top in women’s international cricket with 18 centuries. She broke the joint world record of Australia’s Meg Lanning and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt, who had 17 international centuries each.
In women’s international cricket, former India player Mithali Raj had previously held the record for the most runs with 10,868. Mandhana has now overtaken her with 10,880 international runs to become the leading run-scorer.
Smriti Scores 124 of India’s 193 Runs
India made full use of the opportunity to bat first, scoring 193 for five in 20 overs. Smriti alone contributed 124 of those runs. She and Shafali Verma put together a 74-run opening partnership.
Shafali was dismissed by Indian-origin spinner Ruchita Venkatesh, while Smriti was run out for the second consecutive match.
Deepti Sharma Takes Three Wickets in One Over
A target of 194 was always going to be an uphill task for Hong Kong. They began losing wickets from the second over itself. At 31 runs, Hong Kong had lost only two wickets, but a sudden collapse followed as wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.
Spinner Deepti Sharma struck three times in one over, with one of those dismissals coming through a run-out.
Hong Kong All Out for 56
Hong Kong managed to put up a fight until the 17th over, but their innings ended at 56 in 16.2 overs, handing India a comprehensive 137-run victory.
Among India’s three spinners, Deepti Sharma claimed three wickets, while Shree Charani and Prema Rawat picked up two wickets each. Pacer Nandani Sharma also took two wickets.
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