Smriti Mandhana: First Indian Woman Cricketer to Score Test Century in Australia

By: Navyasri, Writer, Womenentrepreneurindia

Smriti Mandhana, an Indian female cricketer, earned her first Test century while playing the historic Pink Ball Test match against Australia Women. At a strike rate of 58.79, Mandhana scored 127 runs off 216 balls, including 22 boundaries and one maximum. Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score a Test century in Australia with her century. The 26-year-old had already topped RajaniVenugopal as the highest Test score by an Indian women cricketer before finishing the day with 70 unbroken runs.

Mandhana learned the pink ball by carrying one in her kit bag for three months and looking at it on and off while attempting to 'understand' it. The strategy of keeping the colored ball close to her worked brilliantly for Mandhana, who was batting on a sublime 80 when the first day of their historic Test against a powerful Australian team was cut short due to poor weather.

"We just had two sessions with the pink ball. I was coming from the Hundred (in England) so I didn't really get much time to play with the pink ball, but during Hundred, I just ordered a pink kookaburra ball, just to keep it in my room because I knew that there is going to be a Test match so that I can just look at the ball and understand. I have actually not batted, I batted for just two sessions but the pink ball was there in my kit bag for the last two and a half, three months. I don't know why did I carry it, I thought I will have a session but I really didn't get time to do that," says, Mandhana.

Let's take a look at the records Mandhana has set so far in her cricketing career.

T20I half-century record: In a game against New Zealand in 2019, Mandhana made the fastest T20I half-century for India. Mandhana's fifty came off just 24 balls, breaking her own record of the fastest half-century by an Indian woman cricketer, which she set against Australia in 2018.

India's youngest T20I captain: After replacing an injured Harmanpreet Kaur during a home series against England in February 2019, Mandhana became India's youngest T20I captain. At the age of 22 years and 229 days, Mandhana gained control.

An Indian lady cricketer has the second-highest 50+ score in T20Is: Mandhana holds the record for the second-highest 50+ score by an Indian women cricketer in a T20I match. Mandhana has hit the 50-run barrier 13 times in T20Is, second only to Mithali Raj, India's Test and ODI captain, who has 17 50+ runs in her T20I career.

The greatest number of runs in a series: Mandhana was India's leading run-scorer at the ICC Women's Championship. Mandhana scored 911 runs in 19 matches, including two century and 9 half-centuries, which came at an average of 65.07. The tournament in which Mandhana scored the most runs for India will determine India's Women's Cricket World Cup qualification.

Indian women cricketer with the second-fastest 1000 T20I runs: Mandhana became the second-fastest Indian woman cricketer to score 1,000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals in 2018. Mandhana completed the feat in 49 innings. She is one of the top ten fastest female batters to score 1000 T20I runs. Mithali Raj is the first Indian woman to score 1000 T20I runs in 40 innings.

Mandhana was born in Mumbai, her father and brother, Shravan, were also district cricketers for Sangli. After watching her brother compete in the Maharashtra state Under-16s competitions, she decided to take up cricket. She was selected for Maharashtra's Under-15 squad at the age of nine. She was selected for the Maharashtra Under-19s squad when she was eleven years old.

In October 2013, she made history by becoming the first Indian woman to score a double-hundred in a one-day match. She struck an unbeaten 224 off 150 balls for Maharashtra versus Gujarat in the West Zone Under-19 Tournament at the Alembic Cricket Ground in Vadodara.

Mandhana helped India Red win the 2016 Women's Challenger Trophy by scoring three half-centuries in as many games, including an unbeaten 62 off 82 balls in the final against India Blue. She was the tournament's leading scorer with 192 runs.

Mandhana made her Test debut against England at Wormsley Park in August 2014. Mandhana earned her first international century in the second ODI of India's 2016 tour of Australia at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. She was a member of the Indian squad that advanced to the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup final, where they were defeated by England by nine runs. She was also picked to India's squad for the Women's World Twenty20 event in the West Indies in October 2018 and  She was dubbed the team's star ahead of the event. In February 2019, she was selected captain of India's Women T20I side for the three matches against England.

She was named International Woman Cricketer of the Year at the CEAT International Cricket Awards in May of this year and in January 2020, she was picked to India's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia.