Dubai: India opener Smriti Mandhana was at her brilliant best in Thursday’s Women’s T20 Asia Cup match against Hong Kong, scoring 124 off 64 balls with seven sixes and 14 fours before being run out.
Smriti smashed her 18th international century to break the world record for the most centuries, previously held by Australian batting legend Meg Lanning with 17 hundreds. She also surpassed Mithali Raj’s record of 10,868 runs as the highest run-scorer in international cricket with a hat-trick of sixes.
Batting first after being asked to do so by Hong Kong, India scored 193 for five in 20 overs. Mandhana put together partnerships of 74 runs with fellow opener Shafali Verma, 37 with Pratika Rawal, 40 with Richa Ghosh and 34 with Harmanpreet Kaur.
Mandhana took on Hong Kong’s seven bowlers intelligently and completed her second T20I century in just 57 balls.
Indian-origin bowler dismisses Shafali
India made a strong start after being put in to bat by Hong Kong, but the opening partnership between vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma ended at 74 when Indian-origin bowler Ruchita Venkatesh had Shafali caught at long-on by Lamplog.
Shafali, who had scored a match-winning 64 against Thailand, made 28 off 17 balls in this match, including two sixes and three fours. At the end of the 10th over, India were 85 for one, with Mandhana just two runs short of her half-century.
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