Indian batting star Smriti Mandhana has smashed the joint-fastest half-century in women’s T20 cricket. Playing for Western Storm against Loughborough Lightning in KIA Super League, England’s flagship T20 tournament for women, Smriti reached her 50 off just 18 balls in a rain-hit match in Taunton today.
Smriti ended up with an unbeaten 52, having struck five fours and four sixes off 19 balls. Smriti reached her 50 with a six. The match was reduced to six-overs-a-side due to rain. Smriti’s knock powered Western Storm to 85/2 in 6 overs, and Loughborough Lightning could manage only 67/0 to lose by 18 runs. In her debut for Western Storm, Smriti had struck a 20-ball 48 against Yorkshire Diamonds on July 22. She followed that up with a 21-ball 37 against Surrey Stars on July 26.
Before today, the record for the fastest 50 in women’s T20s belonged solely to New Zealand’s Sophie Devine, and now Smriti co-owns it.
Hindi calls
The 22-year-old Smriti had given her teammate Heather Knight, the England captain, some Hindi lessons in her debut match last week.
“She was struggling to call in English, so I asked her to tell me what ‘yes’ was in Hindi,” Knight said.
“It was a bit hard for me to call out in English, because we are used to calling out in Hindi, so I was telling her ‘Haan’ is yes. So she was like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll run for that!’,” Smriti said. “I’m not sure I’ll be wanting to do it (learn a new language) every week,” Knight joked later. “But if I can learn ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in Hindi and help Smriti bat there in the middle – because she got off to a great start for us – then that’s great!”
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