Star India batter Smriti Mandhana made history on Sunday in the inaugural Women's T20I match against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam. The left-handed opener made history by joining the select list of women's T20 international cricket players.
Mandhana became the first female Indian cricketer to reach 4,000 runs in Twenty20 international cricket, making it a significant accomplishment for Indian cricket.
Overall, she is just the second woman cricketer worldwide to achieve this milestone. The only other woman cricketer to do so is the legendary Suzie Bates of New Zealand, who presently has 4,716 runs in the format.
Mandhana's record is even more remarkable because of how quickly she set it. In comparison to Suzie Bates, who needed 3,675 balls to reach the 4,000-run mark, she did so in just 3,227 balls.
This demonstrates how reliable and potent Mandhana has been in Twenty20 cricket over the years.
Mandhana hit 25 runs off of 25 balls in the match against Sri Lanka. She was removed in the ninth over while was chasing a target of 122 runs.
Despite having played a brief knock, she was still able to attain the historic milestone.
Additionally, this was her first time playing for her country since India's historic victory over South Africa in the ODI World Cup final last month, when they won their maiden title.
Earlier in the game, Sri Lanka was held to 121/6 by the disciplined Indian bowlers. The Sri Lankan batsmen were unable to form solid partnerships and were unable to capitalize on loose deliveries.
With 39 runs off 43 balls, Sri Lanka's leading scorer was opener Vishmi Gunaratne. With scores of 20 and 21, respectively, Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama also made contributions.
India made an early breakthrough when young pacer Kranti Gaud dismissed Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu after she got off to a spirited start.
Dew made it tough to grip the ball, but India's bowlers managed to keep things tight in the middle overs.
While rookie Vaishnavi Sharma wowed everyone with a composed and controlled stint and gave up very few runs, Deepti Sharma bowled economically.
