New Delhi: India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana became the first women’s cricketer to complete 11,000 international runs during the Asian Games final against Sri Lanka at Korogi Sports Park on Tuesday.
Mandhana came into the final with 10,987 international runs — 788 in Tests, 5,411 in ODIs and 4,788 in T20Is — and needed 13 runs to reach the landmark.
She achieved the milestone in the third over after India opted to bat first. Mandhana began with two fours in the opening over before hitting a six to complete 11,000 international runs.
The achievement comes shortly after Mandhana became the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket across the three formats, surpassing former India captain Mithali Raj’s tally of 10,868 runs during the recently concluded Asia Cup.
Mandhana had also recently become the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket across men’s and women’s cricket. She surpassed former New Zealand batter Suzie Bates during her 37-run innings against Bangladesh in the Asian Games semi-final.
India, the defending champions, opted to bat first in the final and retained an unchanged playing XI. Sri Lanka also made no changes as they looked to win their maiden Asian Games gold medal.
The final was a rematch of the 2022 Asian Games title clash, which was held in 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Women’s Asia Cup meeting earlier this month, with India defeating Sri Lanka on both occasions.
India reached the final after beating Japan in the quarter-final and Bangladesh in the semi-final, while Sri Lanka defeated Malaysia and Pakistan to book their place in the gold-medal clash.
Sri Lanka are two-time Asian Games medallists, having won bronze in 2014 and silver in 2022, and are seeking their maiden gold medal.
Playing XIs:
Sri Lanka Women: Imesha Dulani, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Hansima Karunaratne, Kaushani Nuthyangana (wk), Mithali Ayodhya, Kawya Kavindi, Chamudi Praboda, Sugandika Kumari.
India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Gunalan Kamalini, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Shree Charani, Nandani Sharma, Kranti Gaud.
[DD News]