India Women vs New Zealand Women: Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal achieve major world records

India have gotten off to a solid start in their crucial World Cup fixture against New Zealand at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday (October 23). Put into bat, Harmanpreet Kaur's girls have once again seen the openers put on a century stand to set the perfect platform for the team.

Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal have been a prolific opening pair, and they proved it once again with a well-paced partnership. The first PowerPlay yielded only 40 runs, the lowest for India in the World Cup but both batters picked up pace once the field was spread. Their intent was to not lose wickets upfront and with the ball getting softer, conditions are getting easier to bat on.

Records set by the Mandhana-Rawal partnership

• This is the fifth century stand between the pair in 2025, the joint-most in a calendar year for any wicket, equalling a 25-year-old record set by Belinda Clark and Lisa Keightley in 2000
  
• This is the seventh century opening stand in ODIs between Mandhana and Rawal, putting joint-second with Rachael Haynes-Alyssa Healy, Tazmin Brits-Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee-Laura Wolvaardt. Belinda Clark and Lisa Keightley top the list with ten century stands
• Mandhana got to her third successive fifty in this World Cup, only the second batter to achieve this feat since Harmanpreet Kaur in the 2017 ODI World Cup
• Mandhana has set a world record for most ODI sixes hit in a calendar year, going past Deandra Dottin's 28 in 2017
• Rawal is the joint-fastest to 1000 ODI runs, getting it off 23 innings, equalling Australia's Lindsay Reeler