Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal stitched an 83-run stand after opting to bat first against South Africa in the second game of the ongoing tri-nations series. While Mandhana got out after scoring 36, Rawal went on to smash her fifth consecutive fifty-plus score in the ODIs.
Indian opener Pratika Rawal continued her spectacular form in ODI cricket and scripted women’s cricket history on Tuesday morning in Colombo, reaching the 500-run mark in just her eighth innings. Rawal, who debuted against the West Indies in December last year, has been sensational and consistently scored big for India. Coming into the Tuesday encounter, Rawal needed just six runs to break the world record for being the fastest woman to 500 runs in ODI cricket and the right-hander ended up smashing her fifth consecutive fifty-plus score.
Rawal broke former England captain Charlotte Edwards’ record of reaching 500 ODI runs in just nine innings, and the Indian opener achieved it in her eighth.
Fastest to 500 runs in Women’s ODIs
Pratika Rawal (India) – 8 innings
Charlotte Edwards (England) – 9 innings
Kathryn Bryce (Scotland) – 10 innings
Nicole Bolton (Australia) – 11 innings
Wendy Watson (England) – 12 innings
Belinda Clark (Australia) – 12 innings
India decided to bat first in sunny conditions in Colombo after a rain-hit opening game against the hosts, Sri Lanka, a couple of days ago. After a cautious start, both Rawal and Mandhana went for their shots, even though the latter’s innings was cut short by Annerie Dercksen on 36. Rawal continued playing cricket shots while taking minimal risk.
Rawal completed her fifth ODI fifty and looked good to get a second hundred before being cleaned up by the left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba on 78. However, both the openers set up a nice platform for the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh to fire as India look to get a score in excess of 280 to challenge the Proteas women.
A win on Tuesday will keep India in good stead for a place in the final, even though they would have to face both teams once again, each in the group stage, before the final gets decided. It has been a good start for the Women in Blue in the tri-series and Rawal, in particular, to her ODI career and would want to continue the same in the upcoming games.
