WATCH | Bangalore's right-armed cross-seam menace Mandhana strikes gold with ball after explosive century

06/19/2024

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RCB's marquee Indian legend who wears the number 18, sparks magic with the bat up top, and works miracles with the ball? Virat Kohli move out of the way, there is a new superstar in town, as evidenced by the deafening roar around the Chinnaswamy on Wednesday in India's ODI against South Africa.

‌India laboured their way to a thrilling four-run victory in a high-scoring contest at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after South Africa dragged their 326-run chase to the final over. The encounter was set up by a second Smriti Mandhana ton on the trot after the opener registered a career-high score of 136, taking just 120 deliveries and lacing her knock with 18 boundaries as well as two maximums. While the deputy skipper's batting endeavours sparked cheers throughout her long stay at the crease, the loyal Bengaluru crowd reserved their biggest roar of the day for an unexpected magical moment in the second innings.

Disciplined efforts by the bowlers up top had restricted the Proteas to 67/2 in the first 14 overs when Harmanpreet inexplicably handed over the ball to Smriti for the first time in the 27-year-old's international career despite having 222 previous caps to her name. However, to the surprise of herself and her teammates, the right-armed medium pacer only took two balls to strike. Smriti delivered a length ball wide of off that bounced more than expected, thus taking the top-edge off Sune Luus' expected cut shot and safely through to Ricah Ghosh's gloves.

Unsurprisingly, Smriti immediately wheeled off in wild celebrations and was hurriedly engulfed by her ecstatic teammates, with the scalp crucial in the context of the match given the flat nature of the track.