Smriti Mandhana is enduring her best-ever year in white-ball cricket and the India vice-captain added to her tally of records for the year during the Women's ODI World Cup match against South Africa in Vizag on Thursday (October 9).
Put into bat, India's openers started steadily and Mandhana's moment of reckon came in the eighth over of the innings. Off the first delivery of the over, the left-hander walked down the pitch and hoisted one straight down the ground for a big six. This was a milestone-creating six as it look Mandhana past Australia's Belinda Clark for an incredible world record.
In 1997, Clark amassed a mind-boggling 970 runs, the most by a women's player in a ODI calendar year. It was an unprecedened achievement that stood for 28 years until Mandhana broke it in Vizag. With few more games left this year, India's vice-captain has the opportunity to become the first women's player to tally 1000-plus runs in a ODI calendar year.
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Mandhana already has the record for the most centuries in a calendar year - she has achieved four tons apiece in two different years and could break her own record if she can get one more three-figure score this year. Mandhana also set an enviable Indian record across formats and genders when she smashed the fastest ODI ton by an Indian in the 50-over format, breaking Virat Kohli's record set in 2013.