Dubai, Sep 4 — India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana revealed details of a light-hearted pre-match conversation with injured teammate Jemimah Rodrigues that helped ease her nerves before she smashed a record-breaking century against Hong Kong in the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup.
At the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Smriti struck a brilliant 124 off 64 balls to power India to a massive 137-run victory over Hong Kong China, which also sealed their spot in the semi-finals.
The innings made Smriti the leading century-maker in women’s international cricket with 18 hundreds and go past Meg Lanning, while also surpassing Mithali Raj as the all-time leading run-scorer in the women's game.
Speaking in a video published by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on their social media accounts on Friday, Smriti was shown a supportive message posted by Jemimah on Instagram after she hit her epic century. “Oh Jemi! We miss Jemi for sure, unfortunate for her to pick up that injury. I remember I was on a video call yesterday and she actually wished me all the best.
“She was like, ‘This is going to be an extremely tough match.’ Knowing me and my batting, she was like, ‘I know it's going to be an extremely tough match, let's see how much runs you get,’” recalled Smriti.
The off-field camaraderie between Smriti and Jemimah, affectionately dubbed the ‘Wrong Sisters’ by fans, has picked a mainstream cult despite the latter missing the ongoing continental event due to a hamstring injury picked while playing The Hundred in England.
“I'm like ‘Yeah, I'm also very stressed and nervous because again like when you know the oppositions and the bowlers and when you don't know the bowlers, I mean it's sometimes like that uncertainty about what they are going to bowl at you.’ She was taking a case and today I think I can take her case but we all do miss her,” added Smriti.
Following her Player of the Match-winning performance, Smriti and India, the seven-time winners, will turn their attention to their final Group A against arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday.