SL-W vs IND-W: Smriti Mandhana set to become fifth Indian batter with 2000 plus T20I runs

Left-hander Smriti Mandhana is on the verge of becoming only the fifth Indian batter to score 2000 runs in T20Is.

The southpaw will have a chance to reach the milestone when the Women in Blue will lock horns with Sri Lanka in the three-match T20I series to be held from Thursday, June 23 at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.

Mandhana is 29 runs short of the milestone, having notched 1971 runs from 84 matches at an average of 25.93 and a strike rate of 120.84 with 14 half-centuries to show for her efforts.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur are the other Indian batters with over 2000 runs in T20Is for India.

She is also the third-highest run-getter for the India Women’s team in T20Is after the retired Mithali Raj and current skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

Mandhana made her T20I debut back in 2013, but it was only after the 50-over World Cup in England that she started carving a niche for herself. She has also played for the Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

Last year, the southpaw plied her trade for the Southern Brave, led by former England all-rounder Anya Shrubsole, in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Hundred. Recently, she captained the Trailblazers in the 2022 edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

Mandhana is currently placed fourth in the ICC’s rankings for T20I batters with 695 rating points after Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma. It goes without saying that she has been a revelation for the Indian women’s cricket team, especially in the last five years or so.