Star Indian opener, Smriti Mandhana, on Wednesday, became the second Indian opener to reach 2,000 runs in T20I cricket after Rohit Sharma. Mandhana achieved the feat during the last night’s match against Barbados in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. The southpaw couldn’t score big in the match as she was trapped in front of the stumps by Shanika Bruce and given out lbw after scoring 5 off 7 balls.
As an opener, the explosive batter has scored 2,004 runs in 79 innings at an average of 27.45. She has 14 half-centuries to her name at this position, with the highest score of 86.
In the Commonwealth Games 2022 so far, Mandhana has scored 92 runs in three innings at an average of 46. Her best innings came in the second match against Pakistan as she scored a blistering 62 off just 43 balls, smashing eight fours and three sixes in her innings.
Courtesy of her stupendous knock, India chased down the target of hundred runs in just 11.4 overs as they won their first game in the sporting event. Coming back to last night’s match against Barbados, team India thrashed their opponents by 100 runs in a must-win game securing their place in the semi-finals of the event.
The Barbados captain Hayley Matthews won the toss and invited the Indian team to bat first. After losing Mandhana early on, the Indian innings was held together by Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues. Verma scored a brilliant 43 off 26 balls while Rodriguez scored 56 off 46 balls. India lost Verma on the score of 76/2 after nine overs. After that, India lost two more wickets and were reduced to 92/4.
Deepti Sharma then joined Rodriguez at the crease and added unbeaten 70 runs for the fifth wicket taking the Indian total to 162/4 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. The Barbados team got off to a miserable start as they lost Deandra Dottin on the third ball of the very first over. The wicket brought upon a collapse from which the team couldn’t recover.
The Indian bowlers were relentless and didn’t give an inch to the batters as they bowled out the Barbados team for just 62 runs. Renuka Singh, once again, shined with the ball in the tournament as she picked up 4 for 10 in four overs. She also became the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, picking up nine wickets in three games at an average of 5.33 and an economy of 4.
India will now face either England or New Zealand in the semi-finals on 6th August. Their opponents will be finalized after tonight’s game between England and New Zealand as the losing team will face India in the semi-finals.
