Record-breaking Mandhana fires India to big win

A record-breaking outing from Smriti Mandhana helped India hammer Hong Kong, China in the Women's Asia Cup encounter in Dubai. Mandhana hit a glittering ton that helped her go past her former skipper Mithali Raj for most runs in women's international cricket. Mandhana's majestic 124 was the highlight in India's 193/5 - a total their opponents came nowhere closer to chasing down as they fell short comfortably by 137 runs.

Having made only 114/7 in the tournament opener against Thailand, Hong Kong were always up against it when India had set them a target of 194. The procession started as early as in the second over of the chase when Nandani Sharma bowled two outswingers before bringing one back in to breach the defence. After 5 overs, Hong Kong were struggling at 8/1 before a couple of boundaries arrived in the final over of the Powerplay. Things then went downhill real quick after Deepti Sharma and Prema Rawat came into the attack.

Both the bowlers struck in succession to reduce Hong Kong to 36/4 before Shree Charani joined the party. Hong Kong then suffered an extraordinary collapse when Nandani came back into the attack in the 14th over. From 52/4, Hong Kong were bundled out for just 56 as they lost their final six wickets in the space of 18 deliveries. While Shree Charani struck once in the 15th and 17th over, sandwiched between those two overs was a stunning over from Deepti that saw her concede just one run while striking thrice.

Earlier in the evening, the Indian innings was all about Mandhana. She made a stuttering start initially, batting on 11 off 14 at one point before breaking the shackles with a sweep that went for a boundary.That helped her shift gears effortlessly as the 30-year-old followed it up with three boundaries in the following over. That rubbed off on Shafali Verma as well as she smashed two fours and two sixes in the final over of the Powerplay that gave India early control.

Even though Verma fell for 28 after the Powerplay, Mandhana continued to bat like a dream and brought up her half-century with a six. That kickstarted an onslaught from the opener as she kept dealing in sixes and struck fours off successive deliveries to move into the nineties. Eventually, she became the first Indian woman to register two centuries in the format, before going past Mithali in style with a hat-trick of sixes. Clearing the ropes seven times on the night also helped her move past her skipper Harmanpreet Kaur for most sixes by an Indian woman in the format.

Brief scores: India Women 193/5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 124, Shafali Verma 28; Marina Lamplough 2-46) beat Hong Kong, China 56 in 16.2 overs (Deepti Sharma 3-9, Nandani Sharma 2-6) by 137 runs.