A SMRITI STORM

AROUND 7 PM on Thursday evening at the DY Patil Stadium, the umpires were having a chat with the two New Zeacaptains land's Sophie Devine and India's Harmanpreet Kaur next to the boundary ropes.

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The all-important World Cup match between the two teams had been put on hold for about 40 minutes because of rain. In the backdrop, one could still see lightning and thunder even as the covers were starting to come off.

However, long before the heavens opened up and put a halt to India's crusade - they were 329/2 in 48 overs - another lightning struck New Zealand in the name of Smriti Mandhana. India's vice-captain came in, smashed a 95ball 109 her 14th ODI hundred and put India in a dominating position.

The milestone moment came in the 31st over when Mandhana drove Jess Kerr for a single. She pumped her fist in the air midpitch, and so did her opening partner Pratika Rawal - who also scored a century under pressure and went past Belinda Clark's 970 to become second in the list of most runs in a calendar year (976).