In the second T20I match between India and England at the County Ground in Bristol, England won the toss and chose to bowl first. After losing the toss, the Indian opening pair, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, came out to bat and Smriti Mandhana created a special history.
SPORTS NEWS: Indian women's cricket star batter Smriti Mandhana made history on Tuesday. By stepping onto the field in the second T20 series match against England, Mandhana achieved the distinction of playing 150 T20I matches. She became the second Indian woman cricketer and the third Indian overall to achieve this feat. Before her, only Rohit Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur had reached this milestone.
England won the toss and elected to bowl first at the County Ground in Bristol. Following this, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma began the Indian innings and got off to a fiery start by scoring 11 runs in the first over. But the real record was made on the very first ball of the second over, when they stole a run, breaking the world record for the most partnership runs in Women's T20I history.
Smriti and Shafali's partnership now has a total of 2724 runs, which has become the biggest partnership for any wicket in women's T20I. Previously, this record was held by Australia's Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, who had scored 2720 runs together.
The world's first left-hander
Smriti Mandhana's achievement is also considered special because she is the world's first left-handed batter to have played 150 T20I matches. Including both women's and men's formats, only 9 players have played 150 or more T20 International matches, and Mandhana is the only left-handed player among them.
She is the second Indian woman to play 150 matches in women's cricket — Harmanpreet Kaur is already on this list, having played 179 T20 Internationals. A look at the record-holding players
- Harmanpreet Kaur — 179 matches
- Suzie Bates — 177 matches
- Danni Wyatt-Hogg — 175 matches
- Ellyse Perry — 168 matches
- Alyssa Healy — 162 matches
- Nida Dar — 160 matches
- Rohit Sharma — 159 matches
- Paul Stirling — 151 matches
- Smriti Mandhana — 150 matches
Smriti-Shafali pair breaks world partnership record
By stepping onto the field in this match, Smriti and Shafali created a new history of their partnership. Both have now added 2724 runs for opening or any wicket, which is the highest in women's cricket. Behind this was the dangerous opening pair of Healy and Mooney (2720 runs) of Australia. If we talk about the pairs with the most runs in women's T20I
- Smriti Mandhana - Shafali Verma — 2724* runs
- Alyssa Healy - Beth Mooney — 2720 runs
- Suzie Bates - Sophie Devine — 2556 runs
- Esha Oza - Theertha Satish — 1985 runs
- Kavisha Egodage - Esha Oza — 1976 runs
However, Smriti could not score many runs in this match and was out after scoring 13 runs, yet her stepping onto the field was in itself historic. Shafali Verma, however, played some attractive shots and gave the team a fast start. Smriti has so far scored 3022 runs in her T20I career, which includes 23 half-centuries and one century. Her strike rate is more than 122 and she is known for her aggressive batting.
