Smriti Mandhana scored 74 runs against the Netherlands to become the sixth Indian to score 50+ in the Women's T20 World Cup, breaking the records of Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur.

SMRITI MANDHANA

Star opener of the Indian women's cricket team, Smriti Mandhana, has once again performed a remarkable feat with her bat. Her brilliant batting performance in the Women's T20 World Cup match against the Netherlands not only gave the team a strong start but also set several significant records.

Batting first at Headingley, India scored 209 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs. The foundation for this mammoth score was laid by the opening partnership of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma.

The two batsmen added 115 runs for the first wicket in 70 balls and did not allow the Netherlands bowlers to make a comeback in the match. Shafali Verma scored 55 runs off 38 balls, while Smriti Mandhana played a brilliant innings of 74 runs off 47 balls. During this innings, she hit 11 fours and one six.

With this half-century, Smriti Mandhana scored 50 or more for the sixth time in the Women's T20 World Cup, becoming the first Indian player to do so. Previously, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur had each scored five 50-plus scores.

Not only this, Mandhana also achieved another major record. She became the first batsman in the world to reach 600 fours in T20 International cricket. After her innings against the Netherlands, she has now reached a total of 604 fours.

Mandhana also tops the list of batsmen with the most fours in women's T20 International cricket, followed by New Zealand's Suzie Bates and Sri Lanka's Chamari Atapattu.

In the final overs of India's innings, Richa Ghosh scored an unbeaten 20, while captain Harmanpreet Kaur contributed 12. Deepti Sharma hit a six and a four off the last two balls to take the team past 200.

The mammoth total of 209 runs was a testament to India's strong batting, but the biggest talking point of the match was Smriti Mandhana's historic innings and her record.

Whenever there will be talk of big names of Indian women's cricket, this innings played against Netherlands will definitely be counted among the special achievements of Smriti Mandhana's career.