The International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah on Sunday heaped praises on India women’s cricket team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana for becoming the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket across men’s and women’s game.
Mandhana had recently become the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket as well. During the Asia Cup, she broke the record of former India skipper Mithali Raj to become the most prolific run-scorer in the women’s game. The century record was later equalled by South Africa women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt. She is placed fifth in the ICC Women’s T20I batter rankings and tops the ICC Women’s ODI batting charts.
Coming into the game, Mandhana had 4751 runs in 170 innings and needed to score only eight to go past the New Zealand icon, and she did that pretty early in her innings when she hit a couple of fours in her first seven balls with two singles too. She hit 124 against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup to surpass Mithali’s tally of 10,868 runs and also hit her 18th international hundred, which was the most in women’s international cricket, making her go past the legendary Meg Lanning. Having made her debut in 2013, Mandhana has evolved into one of world cricket’s most formidable batters, with this record-breaking milestone being a testament to her remarkable consistency.
