Smriti Mandhana added another glittering chapter to her career with a stellar performance against Australia that saw her overtake Virat Kohli’s long-held record—becoming the fastest Indian (across men’s and women’s cricket) to reach 5,000 ODI runs.
In this high-stakes Women’s World Cup clash in Visakhapatnam, Mandhana crafted a polished 80 off 66 balls. But more than the runs, it was the company she joined and the records she broke that stole headlines. She crossed the 5,000-run threshold in just 112 innings, eclipsing Kohli’s mark of 114 (which had stood as a benchmark for Indian batters).
Her knock included a particularly damaging over against Sophie Molineux, where she lofted, pulled, and timed flourishes to tally 16 runs—accelerating her march toward the milestone. That onslaught also helped her break yet another longstanding mark: she crossed 1,000 ODI runs in a single calendar year, a feat no other woman had achieved before.
By rewriting these records on a stage as big as the World Cup, Mandhana reinforced her status not just as a leading Indian batter, but one of the greats of women’s ODI cricket globally.
