Richa Ghosh equaled the record for the fastest half-century in women’s T20I with an 18-ball fifty against the West Indies in the third and final match of the series in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. Her knock, and before Smriti Mandhana’s half-century, powered India to their highest ever score in a Women’s T20I: 217/4. India’s previous best performance was 201/5 against UAE in the Asia Cup in July 2024.
After Smriti Mandhana was dismissed in the 15th over, Ghosh wasted no time coming in to bat. He hit a six off the first ball and never looked back. But the Indian wicketkeeper was helped along the way as Deandra Dottin and Chinelle Henry got in each other’s way to miss the catch in the deep midwicket region. Ghosh, who scored 10 runs in 2 balls at that time, made WI pay for the mistake.
Ghosh equaled the all-time record by smashing a six over midwicket in the last over of the innings. On her previous delivery, she missed out on a record-breaking opportunity when she failed to connect cleanly with a short ball bowled by Hayley Mathews.
Ghosh’s strike rate of 257.14 is also the highest for an Indian woman in a T20I innings (minimum 50 runs) and third best behind Sophie Devine (70 off 22 balls) and Phoebe Litchfield (52 off 19 balls*). Ghosh’s 18-ball fifty equaled the record set by Devin and Lichfield. India’s previous best performance was Mandhana’s 23-ball effort.
West Indies captain Hayley Mathews has chosen fielding in the third and final T20I series decider against India on Thursday.
Indian stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana went with an unchanged 11, while the visitors made one change with Alia Elaine replacing Ashmini Munisar.
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