Smriti Mandhana has a previous best score of 90* in the shortest format.
Firsts are always special! Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has scored a magnificent ton in India’s first T20I against England in Nottingham. To add to the feat, this is her first T20I hundred. Over the past few years, this milestone had eluded Mandhana for a long time. With Harmanpreet Kaur not playing this game, it was immensely important for someone to step up. Mandhana did, and how!
England won the toss and put India in to bat first. Shafali Verma could only manage a brief 20 off the 22 deliveries she faced before getting dismissed. However, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper then stitched a 94-run stand with Harleen Deol before the No.3 batter got out. In the process, Mandhana has got herself to the magnificent milestone. She got to her ton in just 51 deliveries and scored a brilliant 112 off 62 deliveries.
India registered 210/5 in the first innings in Nottingham. This is India’s second highest total in T20 Internationals, only behind 217/4 which they scored against the West Indies in 2024.
Moreover, India’s experienced left-handed opening batter now finds herself amongst some of the elite names in the game. She became the first Indian woman to have a century in all three formats. To add to that, she became the only Indian woman alongside Harmanpreet Kaur to score a ton in the shortest format.
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The left-handed opener is one of the most experienced players in the Indian setup. With 149 T20I appearances, she has scored 3351 runs at an average of 31.08. She has gone past the fifty-run mark 31 times in her career and has amassed 518 fours and 76 sixes in her long T20I career so far. On English soil, she has scored 476 runs in 12 innings. Moreover, her previous best score of 90* also came on English soil.
The southpaw has featured in 102 One-Day Internationals, making her one of the most experienced players in Indian cricket. She has scored a total of 4473 runs in the 50-over format with an average of 46.59. Mandhana has registered 11 hundreds and 31 fifties in ODI cricket, and will hope that she continues the same form in the shortest format of the game as well.
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