Smriti Mandhana becomes the first Indian woman to hit a 100 in Australia, #Spiritofcricket trends after Raut walks out
As Smriti Mandhana becomes the first Indian woman to hit a ton in Australia against the Aussies, #Spiritofcricket trends in Twitter after Poonam Raut walk-out
Indian women cricketer Smriti Mandhana has scripted a new record with her maiden test ton today against the Australian team. She became the first Indian woman to hit a 100 in Australia against the home team.
On a sad note, soon after scoring the ton, she fell prey to Ashleigh Gardner, an Aussie all-rounder’s superb bowling.
Meanwhile, Poonam Raut decided to leave the field after thinking that the ball touched the edge of her bat before being taken by the wicket-keeper. However, the match-umpire had overruled the out appeal.
It has led #Spiritofcricket to trend on Twitter as users tried to give their view on the real spirit of cricket.
Smriti Mandhana’s Ton
It seems like Smriti Mandhana can’t stop breaking records and setting benchmarks for women cricketers. On the first day of the two test matches scheduled against Lanning and Co., she scored her maiden test ton in 170 balls with 18 fours and one six. She has hit the ball across the field to score 127 runs.
It is the second test hundred against the Aussies. Mandhana inked the record as India played their first D/N Test with the pink ball.
The aggressive batting by Mandhana supported by Shafali Verma from the other end had scored over 50-run-mark in the opening partnership after 19 overs. Indian score stood at 81/0.
The ton is an addition to Smriti’s impeccable records
Smriti Mandhana has become one of the finest Indian batswomen in a short span. Here is the list of her top six cricketing records.
| Serial Nos. | Rank | Records | Form | Score |
| 1 | Fourth | Highest first wicket partnership with Shafali Verma | Test Cricket | 167 runs |
| 2 | Fourth | Most runs in Calendar Year | Women’s T20 Internationals | 622 runs in 2018 |
| 3 | Sixth | Most hundreds in a series | Women’s ODI | 2 |
| 4 | Sixth | Most runs in a series | Women’s ODI | 911 runs |
| 5 | Seventh | Most innings before the first Duck | Women’s ODI | 31 |
| 6 | Ninth | Most fifties in her career | Women T20 Internationals | 13 |
The #SpiritofCricket trend
Soon after Poonam Raut walked out despite the umpire not giving out, Twitteraties comments on the issue have sparked debate with the #SpiritofCricket trend. Some of them were supporting Raut on her honesty that was later proved to be a wrong analysis. While others pointed fingers at her saying that she disrespected the umpire.
One of the users has commented that it is great to see that spirit of cricket is still alive.
Amid the humdrum, a user named Pooja Midge’s Fan has said the most important words. She asked people to let Raut speak about the issue first.
Vijay Lokapally, the author of famous crick-books like The Virender Sehwag Story, has praised Raut in a tweet, adding that everybody from Sachin to Gilchrist has staged a walkout.
Unfortunately, the spirit of cricket is a concept that is often thrown out of the ground for the sake of victory. A recent example of this could be the spat between KKR’s skipper Eoin Morgan and DC’s R Ashwin in an IPL match. But when someone does something showcasing the spirit, the comments about disrespecting opponents and the umpires hit too soon without any proper explanation.
