Smriti Mandhana's Record 124 Makes Her Leading Century-Maker in Women's International Cricket

Smriti Mandhana smashed a scintillating 124 off 64 balls against Hong Kong-China in Dubai, rewriting several pages of the record books in a single innings at the Women's T20 Asia Cup.

The knock, laced with 14 fours and seven sixes at a strike rate of 193.75, is now the highest individual score in Women's T20 Asia Cup history, surpassing Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu's unbeaten 119 against Malaysia in 2024. It also stands as the highest score by any Indian batter in Women's T20Is, and made Mandhana the first Indian woman to score two centuries in the format.

The innings carried even greater significance in the context of her career: it was Mandhana's 18th international century, moving her past Australia's Meg Lanning to become the outright leading century-maker in women's international cricket history. In the same innings, she also passed Mithali Raj's tally of 10,868 international runs to become India's all-time leading run-scorer in women's cricket.

Opening alongside Shafali Verma, who made 28, Mandhana anchored India to 193 for 5, a total Hong Kong never threatened as India bowled them out for 56 to win by 137 runs and seal their place in the semi-finals. True to form, the India vice-captain remained grounded afterward. "I didn't know all of this happened," she said. "It's really hard for me to play slower bowlers, but credit to them. They were really disciplined in the powerplay."