Stylish opener Smriti Mandhana extended her purple stripe with a classy 91 from 102 balls to lift India to 314/9 in the first Women’s ODI against the West Indies on Sunday in Vadodara. Mandhana, who scored over 50 for the fifth time in as many innings, got the bulk of the runs in her 110-run stand along with the debutant. Pratika Rawal (40 out of 69). The launching pad was provided by Mandhana to make the average go big and that’s what it’s like Harmanpreet Kaur (34 out of 23), Harleen Deol (44 out of 50), Richa Ghosh (26 off 12) and Jemima Rodrigues (31 off 19) managed to take India beyond 300.
After a strong blow Shafali VermaIndia tried to open up some batting with Mandhana and on Sunday it was the turn of Delhi cricketer Pratika who batted at a strike rate of 57.97.
The 24-year-old was also dropped midway through the match when she was batting three balls in the 10th over. Her four boundaries came on the leg side as she used the sweep multiple times.
Mandhana, at the other end, entertained the crowd with her signature shots including cover drive and pull.
During the knockout, Mandhana also became the first female player to score over 1,600 runs in a calendar year.
Female cricketers with the most runs in a calendar year –
1. Smriti Mandhana (2024) – 1602
2. Laura Wolvaardt (2024) 1593
3. Nat Skiver-Brunt (2022) 1346
4. Smriti Mandhana (2018) 1291
5. Smriti Mandhana (2022) 1290
India changed the pace with the arrival of once again in-form captain Harmanpreet, who struck around 150 to allow timely progress.
The impetus was provided by Richa and Rodriguez, who have been in excellent form recently.
In the West Indies, the best bowler was the left-arm spinner. Zaida James who took five wickets for 45 runs in eight overs.
India could have got a lot more in the death overs, but the last three overs yielded only 20 runs and James picked three wickets in the final over.
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