New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari): Smriti Mandhana starts 2025 with a superb 70-ball hundred, fastest of her career. She has finished the third One-Day International for India against Ireland at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot by smashing a blitzing 70-ball century and that makes this her 10th ODI ton and the quickest of an Indian woman in ODI cricket ever.
Mandhana, who stood in for regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, broke the record of her counterpart who had scored a century off 87 balls against South Africa in Bengaluru last year.
Her quickfire knock now stands as the joint eighth-fastest century in women’s ODI history, with former Australian captain Meg Lanning holding the all-time record with a 45-ball ton in 2012.
Mandhana’s achievement also made her the first Indian woman to score 10 ODI centuries, and she is part of an elite group of openers in women’s cricket. Only Meg Lanning (15 centuries) and Suzie Bates (13 centuries) have scored more ODI hundreds than India’s left-handed batting star.
The incredible form Smriti Mandhana has taken for the 2024 ODI season, where she scored more than 700 runs in 13 innings, all of which contained a record four centuries.
That broke the three centuries in a calendar year that seven other batters shared and South African captain Laura Wolvaardt of 2024.
This set of cricketers include Meg Lanning (2016), Nat Sciver-Brunt (2023), Sophie Devine (2018), Sidra Amin (2022), Amy Satterthwaite (2016), and Belinda Clark (1997).
Playing a home series against South Africa earlier in 2024, Mandhana is the first Asian woman to score consecutive ODI centuries. Only New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite has managed four consecutive tons in 2016-17.
Mandhana continued her domination in a series against New Zealand, scoring her third century of the year and overtaking Mithali Raj for the most centuries by an Indian in women’s ODIs.
She smashed 135 off just 80 balls in a record opening partnership of 233 runs for the first wicket with Pratika Rawal, the highest for a home ODI. Gone, but before that, gave another sparkling display.
