India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana added another milestone to her career on Sunday, becoming the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket across men’s and women’s cricket.
Mandhana achieved the feat during India’s Asian Games women’s cricket semifinal against Bangladesh at the Korogi Sports Park. She scored a quick 37 off 19 balls to move past former New Zealand cricketer Suzie Bates at the top of the run-scoring chart.
Mandhana now has 4,788 runs from 171 innings. She came into the match with 4,751 runs in 170 innings and needed just eight runs to surpass Bates.
She reached the mark early in her innings, hitting two fours in her first seven balls along with two singles.
Bates has 4,758 T20I runs, while former Pakistan captain Babar Azam is third on the overall list with 4,596 runs. England’s Jos Buttler is fourth with 4,292 runs, followed by India’s Harmanpreet Kaur with 4,287 runs.
Most T20I runs across men’s and women’s cricket:
Smriti Mandhana — 4,788
Suzie Bates — 4,758
Babar Azam — 4,596
Jos Buttler — 4,292
Harmanpreet Kaur — 4,287
Mandhana had recently become the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket. During the Asia Cup, she surpassed former India captain Mithali Raj’s tally of 10,868 international runs.
She also scored 124 against Hong Kong during the tournament to register her 18th international century and moved past former Australia captain Meg Lanning’s record for most international hundreds in women’s cricket. The record was subsequently equalled by South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt.
In the Asian Games semifinal, India opted to bat first against Bangladesh as the defending champions look to retain the women’s cricket gold medal they won at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.
India had defeated hosts Japan in the quarterfinal to progress to the last four.
-IANS
