Smriti Mandhana breaks records during Women's Asia Cup 2026: Indian batter tops charts for most runs, most centuries

· Yahoo Sports

Smriti Mandhana turned the Women's Asia Cup 2026 clash against Hong Kong into another record-setting chapter of her remarkable career, as she smashed a breathtaking 124 at the Dubai International Stadium.

Her century was the 18th of her international career, taking her past former Australia captain Meg Lanning's mark of 17. Mandhana is now the outright leader for international centuries in women's cricket.

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Mandhana and Shafali Verma came out firing in the powerplay, putting on 60 runs inside the first six overs. Shafali fell for 28 soon after, and that's when Smriti took things entirely into her own hands.

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The middle order didn't exactly help as Pratika Rawal and Richa Ghosh came in at three and four, but both struggled for fluency, departing for 10 and 11 respectively. Still, Mandhana refused to let the innings drift, and kept the runs flowing. 

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She reached her ton and barely paused for breath and went on to launch three sixes in a row off Ruchitha Venkatesh. Her stay finally ended on the third delivery of the last over when she was run out, leaving with 124 off just 64 balls. India finished on 193, a total that gave Harmanpreet Kaur's side plenty to work with.

The 124 itself is also the highest individual score in Women's Asia Cup history, as Mandhana surpassed Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu's unbeaten 119 against Malaysia in 2024. It's also the highest score by any Indian batter in WT20Is, and the knock made her the first Indian woman to score more than one century in the format.

After an innings that rewrote the record books, Mandhana's response was grounded. She admitted she had no idea about the records falling around her and even tipped her hat to Hong Kong's bowlers for making her work hard.

"I didn't know all of this happened. 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," she said after the innings.

Most runs in women's international cricket - Top 5

Mandhana went past Mithali Raj's career tally of 10,868 runs in her 303rd international innings to become the highest run-scorer in women's cricket across all formats, moving ahead of both Mithali and New Zealand's Suzie Bates (10,740) in the process.

PlayerRunsSmriti Mandhana10,880Mithali Raj10,868Suzie Bates10,740Charlotte Edwards10,273Stafanie Taylor10,007

Most centuries in women's international cricket - Top 5

Mandhana became the outright holder of the most international hundreds by a woman in cricket history, overtaking former Australia skipper Meg Lanning, who had previously sat atop that list with 17.

PlayerCenturiesNationalitySmriti Mandhana18IndiaMeg Lanning17AustraliaLaura Wolvaardt17South AfricaHayley Matthews15West IndiesSuzie Bates14New ZealandTammy Beaumont14England

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