India’s star opener Smriti Mandhana grabbed a lot of eyeballs when the defending champions Western Storm thrashed Yorkshire Diamonds by seven wickets in the Kia Super League (KSL).

Mandhana played an impactful knock of 20-ball 48 with help of 3 fours 5 sixes on her KSL debut. Storms’ skipper Heather Knight also decided to match her Indian teammate as she made a 62-ball 97 with 13 fours and 5 sixes. The defending champions won the match with 27 balls to spare while chasing the target of 163.

It wasn’t one of the ideals starts for Knight and her women while chasing Diamonds’ score of 162 for 5 — on the back of a quality innings from Australia’s Delissa Kimmince — Rachel Priest was dismissed off the first ball of the Storm innings. But after that, it was the Knight and Mandhana show as they made sure that their team doesn’t witness any further hiccups before crossing the finish line.

ALSO READ: Tendulkar Makes birthday of Smriti Mandhana Special

The audience present at the ground witnessed as many as 15 sixes to be smashed during the course of the match and it is the record for the highest number of sixes in a KSL game with 10 of them being hit by the duo of Knight and Mandhana. The India T20 skipper missed out on a well-deserved half-century as she drove a length ball from Davidson Richards straight to cover point.

Even as the Diamonds looked to claw back after Mandhana’s dismissal, Knight ensured that she kept dominating the show as she put on 81 with Stafanie Taylor for the third wicket. While Knight was finally dismissed in 16th over, it was too late in the day as the team needed just two more runs to seal a comprehensive win.

Brief Scores: Yorkshire Diamonds: 162/5 (Kimmince 55, Winfield 41); Western Storm 166 for 3 (Knight 97, Mandhana 48)