Aichi-Nagoya, Sept. 22 -- 863 runs. 4,000 partnership runs. In a year already overflowing with milestones, India's opening duo of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana have given Women's T20I cricket a new set of numbers to chase.
Shafali's extraordinary 2026 campaign has taken her to 863 runs in the calendar year, making her the highest run-scorer in Women's T20Is in a single year. She has moved past South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt, who has 824 runs.
But the bigger story is that Shafali has not been rewriting records alone.
Alongside Mandhana, she has helped India's prolific opening combination cross 4,000 partnership runs in Women's T20Is - the first pair to reach the landmark.
The scale of their dominance is evident from the gap. UAE's Es...