Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal made history as they tore apart the record of the highest opening partnership for India in a Women’s World Cup match. The pair scored 212 runs for the first wicket, thereby leaving behind the record of 175 made by Thirush Kamini and Punam Raut during the 2013 edition in India.
Earlier in the year, Mandhana and Rawal also had a 155-run opening partnership against Australia in Visakhapatnam. Besides these, there are also other famous Indian opening partnerships like Mandhana and Punam Raut’s 144-run partnership against England at Derby during the 2017 Women’s World Cup and Anju Jain and Jwala Sharma’s 107-run partnership against West Indies at Pretoria in 2005. By their latest partnership, the two have recorded their fifth-century stand in a year, thereby level with the record of Belinda Clark and Lisa Keightley set since 2000.
Record-breaking feats for Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal
Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal have extended their record of 150-plus partnerships in WODIs to four, thus equalling the joint record of four such partnerships held by Clark, Keightley, Suzie Bates, and Amy Satterthwaite. In addition, Mandhana overtook Suzie Bates of New Zealand to be the player with the second-most hundreds in Women's ODIs, while Pratika was the first to reach her WODI hundred.
Incredibly, it is only the third time in the history of the Women's ODI World Cup that both openers have made centuries in the same innings.
