Smriti makes it a record-breaking day against Hong Kong

Smriti Mandhana scored 124 off 64 balls, leading India to a 137-run win over Hong Kong in the Asia Cup, becoming the top T20I run-scorer.

New Delhi: Few things in cricket match the sight of Smriti Mandhana when she enters a flow state. Against Hong Kong, she found that rhythm and never quite let go, producing a sublime 124 off 64 balls to help India win by 137 runs in their Asia Cup fixture in Dubai on Thursday.

Smriti makes it a record-breaking day against Hong Kong

The Indian bowling line-up backed up Mandhana with a commanding display to bowl Hong Kong out for 56 runs, unsurprisingly led by Deepti Sharma (3/9) who also became the leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 174 wickets. Prema Rawat, Shree Charani and Nandni Sharma picked up two wickets apiece.

The opener from Sangli reached her highest individual score in T20Is, while also surpassing Mithali Raj to become the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket.

It’s not as if Mandhana never has an off day. But she has shown time and again that she cannot remain quiet for too long, reinforcing her reputation as one of the most consistent and dependable performers not just for India, but in international women’s cricket.

Her 10,880 international runs, and counting, have come by age 30, in a career spanning 13 years and precisely 302 matches. Going by the rate at which she is going, she has at least another five years to contribute to the game, making the magnitude of the achievement — and what may still lie ahead — even more exciting. Just last year, she broke the record for the most international runs by a woman in a calendar year, scoring 1,703 runs.

Mandhana’s second century in the format was also the highest individual score in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, surpassing Chamari Athapaththu’s 119* against Malaysia in 2024. It was a difficult outing for Hong Kong, who struggled to hit their lengths and exert any real pressure on the Indian batters. Plagued by dropped catches and far too many loose deliveries, they were fortunate to get away early on when Mandhana and Shafali Verma got off to a relatively cautious start. India still reached 60/1 in the Powerplay.

After Shafali fell for 28, and with wickets continuing to tumble at the other end, Mandhana shifted gears to unleash total dominance and take India to 193/5. Such was the impact of her knock that the rest of the middle order’s underwhelming show with the bat — the other Indian batters scored 62 from 56 deliveries — will be overshadowed yet again but will need a massive rethink from the management.

Funnily, it wasn’t even Mandhana at her best. Her acceleration came late, but once she settled in, the lines and lengths of the bowlers ceased to matter. She found gaps almost at will, cleared the ropes with ease and, as the innings wore on, made a difficult target look almost inevitable.

“I didn’t know all of this happened,” Mandhana said on breaking several records en route to her century. “It’s really hard for me to play slower bowlers, but credit to them. They were really disciplined in the Powerplay. They bowled pretty well, and the kind of energy they showed was something which we all can learn from. Having said that, I just love batting, and I’m happy that I could contribute.”