Australian skipper Meg Lanning became the first-ever cricketer to captain a national side in 100 T20Is when she took the field during her side's all-important Women's T20 World Cup final against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday, February 26.
She has already overtaken the likes of India's Harmanpreet Kaur and England's Charlotte Edwards, who have captained 96 and 93 T20Is respectively. In men's cricket, former international cricketer Aaron Finch is leading the charts, having captained 76 T20Is from 2014 to 2022 for Australia.
The 30-year-old was made the skipper of the side back in 2014 after the retirement of Jodie Fields from all forms of cricket. She has been one of the most prolific players for her team, winning four ICC World Cup trophies — Three T20 World Cups and one ODI World Cup — during her tenure as the skipper.
Her captaincy has been backed up by her performances as she is the second-highest run-scorer in Women's T20Is after New Zealand's Suzie Bates.
In the ongoing tournament, Lanning's precise captaincy has taken the side to the top of the table in Group A courtesy of victories in all four of their matches. She has scored 139 runs at an average of 69.50 and a strike rate of 115.83 with a top score of an unbeaten 49.
Ahead of the final against South Africa, in the 99 matches that Lanning led, Australia won 75 games and lost 18 times. One of these fixtures were a tie and five matches ended with no result. Under her tutelage, Australia had an impressive winning percentage of Australia of 80.31%.
If Australia does win the trophy under her captaincy for a fifth time, it will make Lanning the most successful skipper in world cricket.
Apart from her mouth-watering numbers in WT20Is, Lanning has also racked up 4602 runs in WODIs and 345 runs in Test cricket.
