India, Oct. 9 -- Indian women's cricket's poster girl and star batter, Smriti Mandhana, has rewritten the ODI record book. In the ongoing game against South Africa at Visakhapatnam, Mandhana went past Belinda Clark's 1997 benchmark of 970 runs in a calendar year. This was one of the longest-standing major batting records in women's one-day cricket. She brought up the record in style with a straight six of Ayabonga Khaka in the eighth over of the innings.

The milestone arrived on a rain-delayed World Cup afternoon, and fittingly in a pressure fixture against South Africa. Although the southpaw failed to convert her start and fell after scoring 23 runs, she set up a strong base for her team along with her opening partner, Pratika Rawal. No...