Colombo: India’s emerging star Pratika Rawal wrote her name in the history books on Tuesday with a dazzling performance against South Africa in the ongoing women’s ODI tri-series in Colombo. The 24-year-old opener provided a solid base for India’s innings with a knock of 78 and also shattered a long-standing record in women’s cricket.
She became the fastest woman to reach 500 ODI runs and her exploits so far in he career have now placed her in an elite club, including some of the star cricketers. Rawal reached the milestone in just eight innings and broke the record previously held by Charlotte Edwards of England, who reached the milestone in nine innings. The Indian batter has shown tremendous consistency in her short career so far after making her debut for the national side in December 2024 against West Indies in Vadodara.
Pratika Rawal continues her fine form 🙌
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) April 29, 2025
She and @mandhana_smriti put up a 83 (111) opening run stand 👍
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/dLJwU4Kapo #TeamIndia | #WomensTriNationSeries2025 | #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/wrucQmWj2V
Fastest to 500 runs in Women’s ODIs
- Pratika Rawal (India) – 8 innings
- Charlotte Edwards (England) – 9 innings
- Kathryn Bryce (Scotland) – 10 innings
- Nicole Bolton (Australia) – 11 innings
- Wendy Watson (England) – 12 innings
- Belinda Clark (Australia) – 12 innings
Coming into the fixture, Rawal was just six runs away from reaching the milestone. She did so in style with a maximum to complete a half-century. It was her fifth consecutive fifty-plus score in ODIs, and she created one more record by doing so. She has now tied with Mithali Raj at the top in the list of most consecutive fifty-plus scores by an Indian woman in ODIs.
#INDWvsRSAW Pratika Rawal broke into the record books straight away scoring the fastest to 500 in women's odi. Doing so in just 8 innings is just remarkable. Long way to go. Congratulations on a great outing. #PratikaRawal
— Boobalakrishnan (@Boobalsinnings) April 29, 2025
Rawal’s record-breaking run kicked off against Ireland in Rajkot earlier this year when she played a knock of 89 runs. She followed it up with knocks of 67 and 154. Her score of unbeaten 50 against Sri Lanka in the first match of the ongoing tri-series continued the streak, and the youngster completed her sixth fifty-plus score against South Africa on Tuesday.
Her knock, laced with seven boundaries and one six, helped India post 276/6 while batting first. Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues scored 41 runs each during their stay at the crease. Nonkululeko Mlaba picked up two wickets for the South African side.
