Smriti Mandhana and Asha Sobhana led India women to a huge 143-run win over South Africa in the first ODI match in Bengaluru on Sunday, June 16. Smriti scored her seventh international century while Sobhana took four wickets to script two major records on her ODI debut.
The 33-year-old leg-spinner emerged as the best bowler at M Chinnaswamy Stadium with four wickets while conceding just 21 runs from her 8.4 overs. She broke men's cricket team player Prasidh Krishna's record for best bowling figures record among active male or female Indian cricketers.
Sobhana's 4/21 trumped Parsidh's famous 4/54 figures against England on his debut in March 2021. Sobhana's figures also emerged as the overall second-best bowling figures on ODI debut for India after the former cricketer Purnima Choudhary's 5/21 against West Indies in December 1997.
Meanwhile, at 33 years and 92 days old, Sobhana also became the oldest ODI debutant in Indian women's cricket history. She famously became the oldest T20I debutant after playing her first international game against Bangladesh last month.
Asha enjoyed a breakthrough during the Women's Premier League 2024 season with RCB Women at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Asha talked about her special connection to the venue after bowling a memorable record-breaking spell and revealed that she was not disappointed after missing out on a fifer.
"I just kept it simple, I wanted to bowl in the right areas, I was in a good rhythm, I wanted to continue," Asha said after the game. "I have been practising this [legspin] for years, I did not want to do anything extraordinary, wanted to focus on the basics. There was a lot for turn on the wicket, did not want to give space to the batters, wanted to vary the pace so that the batters don't pick my variations.
"This stadium is very special for me, by the grace of god everything went well. Pitch is amazing and a little bit of my effort as well. I woke up in the morning today and prayed to god that everything should go well, glad that it went well. [on what the management told her earlier today] They just told me to enjoy, they had lot of confidence in my skills, they wanted me to go out and explore. [on if she is disappointed at not picking a fifer] Not really, I'm happy that my nation won."
