The Indian vice-captain, Smriti Mandhana, Tuesday won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for June. She bagged the award ahead of Maia Bouchier of England and Vishmi Gunaratne of Sri Lanka.
Mandhana was recognized for her outstanding performance in June, which included three centuries against South Africa across the ODI and Test formats, with India emerging victorious in all matches.
Mandhana’s exceptional batting helped India put up mammoth totals against South Africa in the games.
The left-hander was unstoppable, scoring two centuries and a 90 in the three-match ODI series in Bengaluru, followed by an outstanding hundred against the same opponents in the one-off Test in Chennai.
Mandhana amassed 343 runs in the ODI series at an impressive average of 114.3, making her the highest run-getter in a bilateral series for India. Additionally, she achieved the milestone of becoming the first Asian player to score over 300 runs in a three-match ODI series.
Her innings were instrumental in India’s 10-wicket win against South Africa in the one-off test in Chennai. Mandhana finished the innings scoring 149 off just 161 deliveries as she and Shafali Verma amassed 292 runs for the opening wicket in just 52 overs.
This achievement broke the record for the highest opening partnership for India in the Women’s Test and helped India surpass the 600-run mark for the first time in women’s cricket.
“I’m really glad to have won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for June. I’m really happy with the way the team has performed and I’m happy to have contributed. For us, we won the ODI and the Test series and hopefully, we can continue our form and I can further contribute to winning more matches for India,” Mandhana said.
