Smriti Mandhana, Team India’s vice captain, became the first women’s cricketer to score four ODI hundreds in a single calendar year.
In the third ODI at the W.A.C.A. Ground in Perth, Smriti Mandhana made history by scoring an incredible century against Australia. India lost the match by 83 runs, thus the knock was in vain. However, the Indian star did make history by recording his fourth century of the year. In the visitors’ lone duel with the bat, Mandhana hammered 105 runs off 109 balls as they chased the 299-run mark. After she exited, India collapsed badly, going from 189/3 to 210 all-out. The left-handed batter had held India in the chase until she was in the middle.In ODIs this year, Madhana has been India’s most productive batswoman, but she hasn’t had much help from the opposition. Consequently, the Women in Blue lost multiple chances to cross the finish line.The Indian vice-captain became the first women’s cricketer to score four ODI hundreds in the same calendar year. Previously, seven women cricketers scored three ODI centuries in a single year, including South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt this year. Others on the list include Meg Lanning (2016), Nat Sciver-Brunt (2023), Sophie Devine (2018), Sidra Amin (2022), Amy Satterthwaite (2016), and Belinda Clark (1997).
Meanwhile, Mandhana’s ninth ODI century included 14 fours and a six, putting her just six below the record of most ODI tons set by former Australian captain Meg Lanning (15).
A superb century was earlier hit by Australian middle-order batswoman Annabel Sutherland (110) as the hosts defeated India with 298/6.Tahlia McGrath (56 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (50) were the two Australian batsmen who made significant contributions.
With just 26 runs given up in her ten overs, India’s Arundhati Reddy claimed four wickets.
Speaking about the humiliating 0–3 rout, captain Harmanpreet Kaur stated that after they got back to India, they will examine what went wrong during the visit.
“We bowled pretty well, in my opinion, especially Arundhati. We learned a lot from this visit, including how they batted and bowled. We’re going to review the entire tour and figure out what went wrong. Smriti had a great knock. After the game, Harmanpreet remarked, “We need to work on that. We did well in patches, but we didn’t maintain our momentum.”
