Smriti Mandhana is on the verge of another milestone in her international career, with the India opener needing 133 runs to become the first cricketer to score 5,000 runs in women’s T20Is.
The milestone would also make her the first player in men’s or women’s T20Is to reach that figure. Pakistan’s Babar Azam is the highest scorer in men’s T20Is with 4,596 runs from 145 matches.
Mandhana enters India’s three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe with 4,867 runs from 179 matches and 172 innings. Her tally includes two centuries and 37 half-centuries, with a highest score of 124. The left-handed batter has an average of 31.00 and a strike rate of 127.48 in the format.
All the matches of the series will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. The second T20I will take place on Sunday, followed by the third T20I on Tuesday.
Mandhana’s rise to the top of the T20I run charts
The 29-year-old has been a regular presence in India’s T20I batting line-up since making her debut in 2013. Her latest pursuit follows another significant achievement in September, when she surpassed New Zealand’s Suzie Bates to become the leading run-scorer in women’s T20I history.
Mandhana moved past Bates during India’s Women’s Asian Games semi-final against Bangladesh on 20 September. She scored 37 off 19 deliveries in that match, taking her tally beyond Bates’ previous record of 4,758 runs.
The Indian batter has also established herself as one of the leading run-scorers across women’s international cricket.
In September, she surpassed former India captain Mithali Raj’s tally of 10,868 runs to become the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket across formats.
Her T20I record reflects a career spanning more than a decade, during which she has combined consistency with an attacking approach at the top of the order. Her strike rate of more than 127 underlines her scoring rate in the shortest international format.
A new chapter as India’s captain
The Zimbabwe series will also mark Mandhana’s first assignment as India’s full-time captain across formats. She was appointed to the role after Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down from the captaincy earlier in October. Shafali Verma has been named vice-captain for the T20I series.
India will play Zimbabwe in bilateral international cricket for the first time. The teams will also meet in a three-match ODI series in Vadodara from 23 October.
