New Chandigarh, Sep 17
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana registered the second-fastest century by an Indian batter in women’s ODIs when she reached the three-figure mark in 77 balls against Australia in the second match of the ongoing series at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Eventually, Smriti made 117 off 91 balls, hitting 14 fours and four sixes at a strike-rate of 128.57. Smriti is now level with England’s Tammy Beaumont on the all-time ODI hundreds list, with only New Zealand’s Suzie Bates (13) and former Australia captain Meg Lanning (15) ahead of her. She has also equalled with Suzie for the record for most centuries by an opener (12).
Her knock adds to a growing list of rapid centuries by Indian batters in recent years, including Harmanpreet Kaur’s 82-ball hundred against England coming earlier this year and Jemimah Rodrigues’ 89-ball ton against South Africa, which happened last year.