Smriti Mandhana played a brilliant knock of 124 runs off 64 balls on Thursday (September 3) to help India crush Hong Kong China by 137 runs in Dubai and become the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the Women’s Asia Cup 2026.
In India’s second Group A match of this year’s tournament, Mandhana hammered 14 fours and seven sixes. Her brilliant performance not only helped India secure their second straight win of the tournament but also made her the first player in the world to score 500-plus WT20I runs in four different calendar years.
Mandhana, the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket, has played 16 WT20Is so far in 2026 and scored 579 runs. She had previously amassed 622 runs in 2018, 594 runs in 2022 and 763 runs in 2024.
Smriti Mandhana in T20Is (runs scored – year by year)
| YEAR | MATCHES | RUNS | BEST SCORE | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 1 | 39 | 39 | 39.00 | 108.33 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2014 | 7 | 95 | 52 | 15.83 | 106.74 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| 2015 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 17 | 286 | 43* | 19.06 | 93.46 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 3 |
| 2018 | 25 | 622 | 83 | 28.27 | 130.67 | 0 | 5 | 77 | 18 |
| 2019 | 14 | 405 | 86 | 31.15 | 124.61 | 0 | 4 | 54 | 8 |
| 2020 | 9 | 265 | 66 | 29.44 | 134.51 | 0 | 2 | 41 | 3 |
| 2021 | 9 | 255 | 70 | 31.87 | 131.44 | 0 | 2 | 37 | 4 |
| 2022 | 23 | 594 | 79* | 33 | 133.48 | 0 | 5 | 89 | 13 |
| 2023 | 18 | 433 | 87 | 27.06 | 116.39 | 0 | 3 | 55 | 8 |
| 2024 | 23 | 763 | 77 | 42.38 | 126.53 | 0 | 8 | 104 | 16 |
| 2025 | 9 | 341 | 112 | 37.88 | 135.85 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 7 |
| 2026 | 16 | 579 | 124 | 38.6 | 145.84 | 1 | 3 | 76 | 15 |
A total of four players — Chamari Athapaththu, Laura Wolvaardt, Esha Oza and Shafali Verma — have managed to score at least 500 runs in three different calendar years. However, Mandhana is the first player to score more than 500 runs in four different calendar years.
Players to score 500 WT20I runs in a calendar year (3 or more times)
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | RUNS | YEAR |
| Smriti Mandhana | India | 25 | 622 | 2018 |
| 23 | 594 | 2022 | ||
| 23 | 763 | 2024 | ||
| 16 | 579 | 2026 | ||
| Chamari Athapaththu | Sri Lanka | 21 | 535 | 2022 |
| 21 | 720 | 2024 | ||
| 16 | 533 | 2026 | ||
| Esha Oza | UAE | 25 | 675 | 2022 |
| 20 | 711 | 2024 | ||
| 22 | 779 | 2025 | ||
| Shafali Verma | India | 23 | 544 | 2022 |
| 20 | 531 | 2024 | ||
| 18 | 531 | 2026 | ||
| Laura Wolvaardt | South Africa | 19 | 586 | 2023 |
| 19 | 673 | 2024 | ||
| 19 | 673 | 2026 |
Mandhana, who also broke the records for the most runs and centuries in women’s international cricket on Thursday, has 93 50-plus scores to her name in 302 international matches across formats. Former India captain Mithali Raj also scored at least 50 runs in 93 matches during her 23-year international career from 1999 to 2022.
The overall record for the most runs scored in a calendar year in WT20Is is held by Hong Kong China batter Natasha Miles. Miles, who top-scored for Hong Kong China against India on Thursday with a knock of 15 runs off 27 balls, has scored 799 runs in 26 WT20I matches in 2026. No player in the world has managed to score more WT20I runs in a calendar year than her.
She is followed by UAE’s Esha Oza and Hong Kong China’s Yasmin Daswani. Oza amassed a total of 779 runs for the UAE in 2025, while Daswani has scored 766 runs in 2026. She scored 11 runs off 23 balls against India on Thursday.
