- Pratika Rawal made history as the fastest female to reach 500 ODI runs, breaking the record within just 8 innings
- She broke the record during India's tri-nation series match with Colombo on Tuesday morning
Indian opener Pratika Rawal continued her golden touch in ODI cricket, shattering records on Tuesday morning in Colombo by becoming the fastest woman to 500 runs in the format. Reaching the feat in her eighth innings, Pratika improved the previous record held by England's former skipper Charlotte Edwards, who reached the milestone in nine innings. Coming into action in December last against West Indies, Rawal is now a constant Indian player and won her stature after attaining her fifth consecutive fifty-plus score.
India decided to bat first in the second tri-series game after a rain-soaked opener against Sri Lanka. Shafali Rawal and Smriti Mandhana put on a strong foundation, sharing 83 for the first wicket. Mandhana was well set but got run out on 36 courtesy a sharp piece of fielding by Annerie Dercksen.
Pratika, though, simply kept going with calm confidence, merging poise with cautious adventurism to score a poised 78 before falling to South African spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba. Her innings was a classic illustration of her growing maturity and natural ability at the crease.
It was with the Pratika’s effort setting tone that India sought to score a total of more than 280, giving the middle order — which included Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Richa Ghosh — something to work off. A win in this match would go a long way towards boosting India's prospects of reaching the tri-series final, though they still have to face South Africa and Sri Lanka again in the group stage. Her encouraging start to her ODI career not only broke records but also gave Indian women's cricket a new star to look up to.
