3 milestones Smriti Mandhana achieved in brilliant century vs South Africa in 2nd IND vs SA ODI

India opener Smriti Mandhana put the South African attack to the sword and scored a scintillating 136 in the second WODI at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, June 19.

This was the second consecutive ton that Mandhana has scored, after she had earlier notched one up (113) in the first WODI played at the same venue on Sunday, June 16.

Mandhana is one of the finest batters in world cricket at the moment and is bound to go down as one of the greatest of all time to have played for India. She crossed quite a few milestones during her knock on Wednesday.

We take a look at the three milestones Mandhana achieved in her brilliant century:

#1 The first Indian woman to score consecutive tons in WODIS

With the century that she scored on Wednesday, Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score consecutive centuries in WODIs, and just the second overall after Sandhya Agarwal, who did so in Tests against England in 1986.

Mandhana was in fine fettle and played shots all across the ground; she took the South African bowlers on with complete ease and made them pay for their errors.

The southpaw is an elegant batter and makes the art look extremely easy when she is in full flow.

#2 The joint-highest Indian with most tons in WODIs

Mandhana plays the pull during her scintillating knock on Wednesday. [Twitter]

The century that she scored on Wednesday made Mandhana, alongside Mithali Raj, the joint-highest Indian with the most number of tons in this format of the game - seven.

Former India captain Mithali is one of the legends of the sport and retired with a whopping 7,805 runs in the 232 WODIs that she played in.

Mandhana too has seven WODI centuries to her name at the moment, to go with the 26 half-centuries that she has notched up. She has 3,359 runs in her kitty at the moment and will be keen to get a lot more.

#3 The fifth-highest individual score by an Indian in WODIs

Mandhana earned her right to fame by putting up the fifth-highest individual score as an Indian with the 137 that she bagged against South Africa in Bengaluru.

While the highest score is the 188 that Deepti Sharma put up against Ireland Women in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in 2017, Harmanpreet Kaur is second with the unbeaten 171 she scored against Australia in 2017.

Kaur comes third as well, with an unbeaten 143 she amassed against England in Canterbury in 2022. Former opener Jaya Sharma comes fourth on this list owing to the 138 not out she scored against Pakistan Women in Karachi in 2005, followed by Mandhana in the fifth spot.

​