The opening partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal is quickly becoming one of the best opening partnerships for the India squad in Women’s One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The pair put on another showcase when it counted most—taking on reigning champions Australia on Sunday (October 12) in the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup group stage match at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Batting first, the pair was careful to bat intelligently and were only able to muster 23 runs in the first six overs of the match. However, once spin came into play, both players had somewhat of a gear shift. They took apart world-class bowlers Sophie Molineux and Ashleigh Gardner, timed the ball beautifully, all while being very positive with their scoring. Their efforts result in the highest opening stand for India against Australia in a Women's World Cup, surpassing the previous record of 101 runs for England E Bakewell and D Thomas from 1973.

A Partnership for the Ages by Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana

Pratika Rawal hit a six and a four off Gardner in the ninth over to take their century partnership to fifty runs — the 14th such partnership in One Day Internationals (ODIs) in just 21 innings together. They now sit second on India's all-time list behind only the iconic Harmanpreet Kaur-Mithali Raj combination, who have 18 in 56 innings. To put that in context, Anjum Chopra-Mithali Raj and Mithali Raj-Punam Raut have 13 in 57 innings and 34 innings, respectively, showing how remarkable the current pair is.

By 15 overs, India were 73 with no wickets down, their highest opening partnership in Women's World Cups against Australia, surpassing Anjum Chopra and Anagha Deshpande's 69 in 2009. After a minor scare when Rawal was dropped on 93, the pair brought up another century partnership — their fourth of 2025 and the first time since Faryal Ghayur found herself in the grip of the three semi-finalist openers in the 2000 Women's World Cup that a team has four 75-run partnerships or greater partnerships in a playing calendar year. This means only Belinda Clark-Lisa Keightley (five in 2000) and Suzie Bates-Rachel Priest (four in 2015) have ever have matched a fourth century opening partnership in a year. With six century partnerships and only 21 innings, Mandhana and Rawal are already in pursuit of Mithali and Raut's record of seven, which means they are well on their way to becoming India's most infrequent opening pair.