Smriti Mandhana hits 66-ball 80 against Australia in ICC Women's World Cup
Joins Mithali Raj in 5,000-run women's ODIs club
Southpaw returns to form after three indifferent outings
Smriti Mandhana became the fastest as well as youngest batter to score 5,000 runs in women's one-day international history on Sunday (October 12), as she stroked her way to a 66-ball 80 in the India vs Australia, ICC Women's World Cup 2025 match at Visakhapatnam's ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
Mandhana is only the second Indian after Mithali Raj and fifth overall to reach the milestone in women’s ODIs. She got to the 5,000-run landmark in 112 innings, improving the previous record set by Stafanie Taylor (129 innings).
The southpaw is also the fastest to get there in terms of balls faced (5569), bettering the mark of Suzie Bates (6182 balls).
Earlier, Australia skipper Alyssa Healy won the toss and elected to bowl against India. Australia brought in spin all-rounder Sophie Molineux in place of Georgia Wareham in the crunch game, while India retained the same playing XI as in the previous game, which they lost to South Africa.
"Pitch looks better than what we had in the last game. Same XI. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It's about how you bounce back. We were there in the game for 95 overs, lots of positives for us," said India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
Australia Women: Alyssa Healy (wk/c), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Kim Garth, Alana King, Megan Schutt
India Women: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani
