One of India women’s brightest cricketers and among the most sought women’s cricketers, Smriti Mandhana celebrates her 24th birthday on July 18, 2020 (Saturday). Mandhana is an elegant left-handed batsman and is already India’s third-highest T20I run-scorer and also the country’s fifth-highest run-scorer in One-Day Internationals despite being so young. She made her India debut as a 16-year-old, among the youngest debutants in Indian cricket, against Bangladesh women and has journeyed into becoming one of the game’s biggest stars in the current generation. Smriti Mandhana on Mankading Row: ‘Bowlers Should Give Warning Once or Twice' (Watch Video).

Mandhana, born in 1996, took up cricket after watching her brother play for Maharashtra in U19 state tournaments. Her father also played district level cricket for Sangli, where the family moved when she was a toddler. She came through the Maharashtra age-group cricket and was seen as a talented batswoman right from her young age. Indian Women's Cricket Team Lockdown Diaries: Smriti Mandhana Plays Ludo Game Online With Teammates, Troubles Brother While Staying Indoors (Watch Video).

Such was her elegance and talent that she was selected to play for Maharashtra under-15 team despite being only nine-year-old. As she celebrates her 24th birthday take a look at some interesting facts about Smriti Mandhana.

  • She was born into a family of cricketers as her father and brother Shravan both played district-level cricket for Sangli. She was inspired after watching her brother play in U-16 tournaments for Maharashtra

  • Smriti Mandhana is the first Indian Women's cricketer to score a double hundred in a One-Day game. She scored 224 from 150 deliveries for Maharashtra against Gujarat in a West Zone U19 tournament in 2013

  • Madhana is the youngest player to captain India in WT20I cricket. She was 22 years and 229 days old when she captained India in a WT20I match against England in 2019 replacing regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who was out with injury

  • Smriti Mandhana holds the record for the fastest WT20I half-century by an Indian batswoman. She scored a half-century in 24 deliveries against New Zealand woman in 2019. It is the sixth-fastest in the overall list

  • She is the fourth-youngest T20I debutant in Indian women's cricket and made her debut against Bangladesh as a 16-year-old. Shafali Varma, who made her debut as a 15-year-old, holds the record for being the youngest Indian debutant in WT20I Cricket

  • In 2016, Smriti Mandhana signed a year-long contract with Big Bash League side, Brisbane Heat making her only second Indian cricketer after Harmanpreet Kaur to sign such a deal

  • Mandhana is the first Indian to play in the Kia Super League in England. She signed for champions Western Storm in 2018

  • She was named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2018

  • Smriti Mandhana is the fastest Indian woman, second-fastest Indian after only Shikhar Dhawan (48) and third-fastest in women’s cricket to complete 2000 runs One-Day Internationals. She achieved the milestone in 51 matches and is only behind Australian duo Belinda Clark (45) and Meg Lanning (45) in women’s overall list

She holds multiple records to her name and has already scored over 1000 runs in both WODIs and WT20Is. Mandhana has, however, represented India in only two Test matches and has one half-century in them, which came against England women.

Mandhana has also played 51 WODIs and 74 WT20Is for India respectively and has scored 2025 and 1716 runs in them. She had four WODI centuries and 17 fifties while she has smashed 12 half-centuries in WT20Is, including the fastest fifty by an Indian woman.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2020 08:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).