Smriti Mandhana broke the record for the most runs made by a woman batter in a calendar year during the Women’s World Cup match against South Africa in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
The 29-year-old went past Belinda Clark’s tally of 970 runs, which she made in 1997, with a six off Ayabonga Khaka in the eighth over of the innings.
Mandhana entered the match with 959 runs in 17 ODIs at an average of 59.93, having scored four centuries and three half-centuries in 2025. She began the World Cup campaign with scores of 8 and 23 against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The left-handed opener now has 972 runs in 17 matches, surpassing Clark, who scored 970 in 16 matches.
Mandhana’s form this year has been consistent. In India’s three-match ODI series against Australia in September 2025, she scored two centuries, including a 50-ball hundred in the series decider at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on September 20.
The Indian opener is also approaching 5000 ODI runs. She is India’s second-highest run-getter in women’s ODIs.
Only four batters have crossed 5000 runs: former India captain Mithali Raj (7805 runs in 232 matches), England’s Charlotte Edwards (5992 runs in 191 ODIs), New Zealand’s Suzie Bates (5896 runs in 173 ODIs), and West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor (5873 runs in 170 ODIs).
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur also has records in sight. She needs three sixes against South Africa to surpass Deandra Dottin’s record of the most sixes in Women’s ODI World Cup history.
Dottin hit 22 maximums in 29 matches, while Kaur had 20 in 29 matches. Kaur also needs 84 runs in the match to complete 1000 runs in Women’s ODI World Cup matches.