Mandhana celebrates scoring her ton against New Zealand during the third ODI in Ahmedabad. (BCCI Women on X)
With a well-constructed 100 off 122 balls in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, opener Smriti Mandhana created a new Indian record in women’s ODIs. She took over from Mithali Raj as the Indian batter with most centuries in this format, notching up her 8th three-figure score.
Chasing 233, India beat New Zealand by 6 wickets and 34 balls to spare.
Before this year, bizarrely enough Mandhana had not scored an international century in India. She has now corrected that anomaly and then some. In the home series against South Africa earlier this year, she had scored two centuries and a 90 in three matches. And in a series-winning performance on Tuesday against New Zealand, she scored her third century on home soil.
Out of her eight centuries, three have come against South Africa while two each have been scored against West Indies and New Zealand. She also became the first Indian woman to score three ODI centuries while batting second. With two centuries in Test format, Mandhana also achieved the feat of being the first Indian woman to score 10 international centuries.
Mithali Raj had scored 7 centuries during her decorated career, during which she also scored 64 half-centuries. Third on the list is Harmanpreet Kaur, who has scored 6 centuries. No other Indian has scored more than 5 centuries in this format. Overall, Meg Lanning – the now retired Australian legend – leads the chart with 15 centuries, which will take some beating. Among active batters, Suzie Bates is closest, currentl on 13 centuries.
