Navi Mumbai, Oct 23 (UNI) Young opener Pratika Rawal struck her maiden World Cup century to etch her name in the record books, as India’s opening duo produced a historic double hundred stand against New Zealand in their ICC Women’s World Cup clash at the DY Patil Stadium here.
Rawal reached her milestone in the 39th over, guiding a full delivery from New Zealand’s Rosemary Mair to point for a single in the ICC WWC match here today.
She removed her helmet, raised her bat in joy, and was warmly hugged by partner Jemimah Rodrigues as head coach Amol Muzumdar stood applauding the landmark effort.
The hundred capped a composed and mature innings from the 22-year-old, who had earlier made promising starts in the tournament but finally converted one into a big score. Her effort came on the same day that senior opener Smriti Mandhana produced a record-breaking ton, making this only the third instance in Women’s ODI World Cup history where both openers have scored centuries in the same innings.
The previous pairs to achieve this rare feat were England’s Lynne Thomas and Enid Bakewell against International XI in 1973, and Australia’s Lindsay Reeler and Ruth Buckstein versus the Netherlands in 1988.
Pratika’s century was also the 41st individual WODI hundred of the year — well clear of the 29 recorded in 2024 — underscoring a prolific year for women’s cricket. India Women now lead the list for most individual hundreds by a team in a calendar year with 10 in 2025, ahead of New Zealand’s 8 in 2018 and South Africa’s 8 this year.
