India women’s return to international cricket brought the continuation of Smriti Mandhana’s streak of breaking records across formats. On Sunday (December 21), while batting against Sri Lanka in the first bilateral T20I of the five-match series in Vishakhapatnam, she became the first Indian to hit 4,000 runs in women’s T20Is. She’s only the second overall to reach that milestone, after New Zealand legend Suzie Bates.
Mandhana is also the quickest to the mark in terms of balls taken, beating Bates’ record of 3675 by a huge margin with only 3227. It shows how Mandhana’s runs have not just been about stat-padding but also quite impactful for India, further cementing her image as the team’s best batter across formats.
Mandhana ended the day at 4006
runs after falling for 25 (25) in the 122-run chase. She was still head and shoulders above the second-highest run-scorer for India in the format — captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who was at 3654 before the match started. Chamari Athapaththu, the Sri Lankan captain, was next in line with 3473 after her score of 15 (12) in the first innings, followed by another Kiwi great, Sophie Devine, at 3431 runs.
Major Milestone unlocked 🔓
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana becomes the 1⃣st Indian and only the 2⃣nd player ever to complete 4⃣0⃣0⃣0⃣ runs in women’s T20Is 🫡#TeamIndia are 55/1 after 6 overs.
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/T8EskKzzzW#INDvSL | @mandhana_smriti | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/pejpxDS2FP
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 21, 2025
India lost opener Shafali Verma early for just 13 runs on the board in the run chase. Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues then put up a 54-run stand in 41 balls before the former lost her wicket to Inoka Ranaweera against the run of play, stepping down and holing a lofted drive to the deep extra cover fielder.
India were in a pretty comfortable position, nevertheless, and went on to win the match by eight wickets, with Rodrigues completing her half-century. The second T20I will be played at the same ground on December 23.
