Smriti Mandhana bagged yet another towering milestone, this time in the Women's World Cup 2025 clash between India and New Zealand on October 23. In what was effectively a virtual knockout game, with the winner advancing to the semi-finals, Smriti Mandhana provided a crucial anchor for India. She partnered with Pratika Rawal to give the team a perfect start, as the opening duo successfully stitched together a fifty-run stand.
Smriti Mandhana's runathon continues
During this innings, immediately after reaching the 25-run mark, Mandhana clocked a towering milestone by becoming the leading run-getter in Women's ODIs as an opener. She surpassed New Zealand's Suzie Bates and remarkably achieved the feat in 20 fewer innings than her Kiwi counterpart.
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Mandhana cemented this record after raising her runs tally as an opener to 5090 runs in just 113 innings. In comparison, Bates, who was set to bat in the second innings, has 5089 runs from 133 innings in the same role. A complete list of the top openers follows this achievement.
Most runs by openers in WODIs:
5089* - Smriti Mandhana (113)
5088 - Suzie Bates (133)
4921 - Laura Wolvaardt (115)
The 29-year-old is having a productive World Cup campaign so far. The southpaw has amassed a total of 248 runs across six innings and is still counting, maintaining a strong average of 49.60. Her notable performances in this edition include two scores of fifty or more. Despite these solid starts, Mandhana has struggled to convert them into truly big scores and is still searching for her first century of the tournament. A prime example was the recent match against England, where she registered a superb eighty-run knock but failed to stay until the end, which ultimately contributed to a win for the opposition, the Three Lions.
Talking about the match, India were strongly placed at 152/2 after 25.2 overs with Pratika and Mandhana unscathed at 62 and 75 respectively.
IND W Playing XI:
Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur.
NZ W Playing XI:
Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson.