Even as the Indian men’s squad finished playing a T20I series against Windies and would now be heading to Australia for as many shortest format game, the women’s team is busy playing the 2018 Women’s World T20 in the West Indies. While Rohit Sharma and his men did a phenomenal job, the women’s team has registered a couple wins of resounding performances against New Zealand and Pakistan.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Co are currently standing at the second position on the points table in Group B with four points. The Indian batswomen have been fabulous so far. The captain became India Women’s first T20I centurion against New Zealand. In the second encounter at Providence Stadium in Guyana against Pakistan, the 35-year-old Mithali Raj came to the rescue.
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Raj didn’t get a chance to bat against New Zealand as India lost six wickets. However, she was sent to open the batting with Smriti Mandhana and the veteran cricketer didn’t disappoint by any means. She notched 56 runs from 47 balls with the help of seven boundaries. Her stand of 73 with Mandhana set the platform for India’s second win in the T20 mega event.
During her 16th T20I half-century, Mithali also went past Rohit Sharma as India’s leading run-scorer in the shortest format. While the latter has 2207 runs from 87 matches at an average of 33.43, Raj has amassed 2232 runs in 84 matches at an average of 37.20. As far as India’s progress in the tournament is concerned, they are most likely to qualify for at least the semi-final stage.
Hence, Mithali would get to play a minimum of three matches in the tournament. On the other hand, Rohit will play three T20Is in Australia. Therefore, it would be interesting to see who among the two will end the year as India’s highest T20I run-getter. Nevertheless, the fact that both have been stalwarts and indispensable members of their respective Indian teams can’t be dismissed. Part from them, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli is also on the list as he has amassed 2102 runs in 62 matches at an average of 48.8.
