Visakhapatnam, Oct 9 Though she failed to score another big one in her third outing in the ongoing Women's World Cup, India's Smriti Mandhana broke a 26-year-old World Record, scoring the most runs in a calendar year in women's One-day International cricket during India's match against South Africa on Thursday.
Smriti scored 23 runs off 33 balls against South Africa on Thursday, hitting one four and one six in the process. Just when it looked like she had set herself up for a big one, the 29-year-old Indian opener hammered one down the throat of Sune Luus at long-on.
However, the 23 runs she scored on Thursday took Mandhana's aggregate for the year to 973 from 17 innings, making it the most runs scored by a batter in women's ODIs in a year.
Mandhana broke the record of Belinda Clark of Australia, who had scored 970 runs in 1997. South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt is a distant third in the list with 882 runs scored in 2022.
Mandhana has had a superb year so far in ODIs, though the World Cup has not been that great for her so far. Before the World Cup, Mandhana had scored 928 runs in 14 innings at an average of 66.28 and a strike rate of 115.85. Her bat has been rather cold in the World Cup, managing only 54 runs in three innings at 18.00 average and a strike rate of 72.97.
But she still has the chance to set a massive record by becoming the first woman cricketer to score 1000 runs in a calendar year. With five more league matches to play, she has ample opportunities to reach the milestone.
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