Smriti Mandhana’s 124-run knock against Hong Kong in the Women’s Asia Cup match helped her become the leading run-scorer in women’s internationals on Thursday.

Mandhana went past legendary India batter Mithali Raj’s tally of 10,868 runs and finished her innings on 10,880 runs.

“Till I was batting, I didn’t know what record it was because I didn’t know the exact runs or all of that,” Mandhana told reporters after India’s mammoth 137-run win at the Dubai International Stadium.

“Looking back, one of a very good days for Indian cricket, I would say. Of course, Mithali-di has been such a legend and a role model, and we’ve all grown up watching her bat.

“So, to go past her in the tally of runs, I definitely never imagined doing that. But happy that there are two Indians at the top two,” Mandhana said.

She also crossed another milestone during her knock as Mandhana overtook Australia’s Meg Lanning’s tally of 17 international centuries.

“18 is a good number to go past,” said Mandhana, whose jersey number is also 18.

“But again, I mean, two of the legends of women’s cricket — Meg Lanning and Mithali Raj. Genuinely, these are the two people whom I have grown up watching a lot. I’ve tried to take a lot of things from them as batters,” she added.

However, at 30, Mandhana doesn’t want to limit or measure her career in terms of runs she scored or records she has broken but matches she has helped India win.

“I always felt this is my job. I never thought of it as anything else like records and numbers,” she told BCCI.TV.

Mandhana feels pride when she helps other players to climb up and wants to see more Indian batters in the top run-scorers list.

Also read | Smriti Mandhana at the peak: India’s smiling assassin keeps making history

“Something I really pride myself on is helping people around; being there for the other batters. Hopefully, there will be three or four more in the list of 10,000+ runs from the Indian setup, and that’s something which I would like to be measured by,” Mandhana said.

“Sometimes being one person is not enough or important. I think taking three or four more batters with you — I mean as many as possible — but three or four Indian names would be great to have in that top five list. I think that’s something I’ll measure my career with,” she added.

Mandhana wants to continue inspire more girls to play cricket and be the best versions of themselves. “If anything of mine could inspire even 10 per cent girls to pick up bat and ball, and start playing cricket, I feel I’ll always be proud and happy about,” she concluded.

Published on Sep 04, 2026