Continuing her splendid form in the Kia Super League, Smriti Mandhana scored her first-ever T20 hundred, and did that in style, off just 60 deliveries. Mandhana has scores of 48, 37, 52 not out from 19 balls, 43 not out from 27 balls apart from her hundred scored on Friday, making her the highest scorer in the competition so far.
Mandhana hit 12 fours and four sixes to guide defending champions Western Storm to a fluent 7-wicket win over Lancashire Thunder, with 10 balls to spare. Mandhana’s knock helped Western Storm reach the top of the table at the halfway stage of the T20 league.
Chasing 154 for victory, Mandhana took the Lanchashire attack by the scruff of the neck, hitting two sweet sixes in the third over. Despite losing opening partner Rachel Priest and seasoned player Heather Knight early on, Mandhana continued to dominate the bowling with her sheer timing of the ball and precise placement and was particularly severe on the spinners.
There was no such luck for Indian women team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who turned out for Lanchashire Thunder, was dismissed for a duck.