Smriti Mandhana: Dissecting her journey to glory
What's the story
Smriti Mandhana, a name synonymous with excellence in women's cricket, is one of the most celebrated players in the sport. Born on July 18, 1996, in Mumbai, she has carved a niche for herself with her exceptional batting skills and leadership qualities. Mandhana's journey from a young girl playing cricket with her brother to an international cricket star is nothing short of inspiring. On Sunday, she became the first woman to complete 11,000 runs in international cricket.
Early career
An international debut at 16
Mandhan started playing cricket with her brother Shravan.
By the age of nine, she had quickly risen through the ranks to become a part of the U-15 and later U-19 Maharashtra teams.
Mandhana made her international debut for India in a T20I against Bangladesh in April 2013.
She was just 16 at the time but went on to become India's highest scorer in that match (39 off 36), helping her team win by 10 runs.
Five days later, she made her ODI debut against the same opponent and scored a useful 25 off 35 balls.
Milestones
Other notable achievements in the early years of her career
Mandhana has been a key player for India since her debut.
She scored her first international century (102 off 109 balls) against Australia in an WODI at Hobart in 2016.
The same year, she was named in the ICC Women's Team of the Year.
In 2017, she helped India reach the Women's ODI World Cup final for the first time since 2005, scoring 239 runs at 29.
Leadership
Captaincy and leadership roles
In February 2019, Mandhana became India's youngest WT20I captain at 22 years and 229 days.
She led India to a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham as vice-captain.
Despite India's group-stage exit from the Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand in 2022, Mandhana was India's top scorer with 327 runs from seven matches.
Stats
Most runs for a woman
With this knock of 79 against Sri Lanka in the final match of the women's cricket event at the Asian Games 2026, Mandhana has raced to a total of 11,066 runs in women's internationals.
Her tally of 18 international tons is the most for any player.
Earlier this month, Mandhana surpassed her former teammate Mithali Raj's tally of 10,868 runs to become the leading run-scorer in women's international cricket.
WT20Is
Most runs in Women's T20Is
Mandhana recently became the highest run-scorer in Women's T20Is.
As per Cricinfo, the Indian has now raced to a tally of 4,867 runs from 179 WT20I matches at 31.
Mandhana's tally of 39 scores of 50 or more is the most for anyone in WT20Is (100s: 2).
She continues to be the only Indian woman with centuries in all three formats.
Mandhana has also recorded 788 runs from nine Women's Tests at 52.53, having recorded two tons and five half-centuries.
WODIs
Sixth-most runs in Women's ODIs
Mandhana is also among just the six players with 5,000 runs in WODI cricket.
Since making her WODI debut in 2013, she has slammed 5,411 runs from 120 matches at an average of 47.88.
With 14 hundreds, Mandhana is only behind Australia's Meg Lanning (15) in terms of tons in the format.
The southpaw also has 35 half-centuries in the format.
Milestones
Records that set Mandhana apart
Since the start of 2018, Mandhana has clocked 49-plus averages in five of the seven calendar years (excluding 2026).
Her away average of 50.44 in the format speaks volumes of his adaptability.
Even in WT20Is, she has been averaging 37 or more in each of the last three calendar years (including 2026).
Mandhana (4,710) and South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt (5,377) are the only batters to score 4,000-plus WODI runs since the start of 2017.
The former also happens to be the only batter with more than 3,700 WT20I runs in this period (4,443).