Indian women’s team openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma have been nominated for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for July 2024. Mandhana, India’s vice-captain, is looking for back-to-back success after winning the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award in June 2024, after scoring 273 runs at an average of 68.25 with a strike rate of 139.28 in T20Is in July. She continued her spectacular run into July, scoring a career-best 149 in the one-off Test against South Africa in Chennai.

Mandhana and her fellow candidate Shafali contributed 292 runs for the first wicket, the highest-ever partnership in Women’s Tests, laying the base for India’s 10-wicket victory. The left-handed opener followed up with 100 runs from two innings in the T20I series against South Africa, including 54 not out in the last T20I, which helped India win by 10 wickets and tie the series. Smriti scored 173 runs at the Women’s Asia Cup and was India’s best scorer in the final, hitting 60 from 47 balls.

Shafali, on the other side, is nominated after scoring 229 Test runs and 245 T20I runs in July 2024, respectively. Shafali became only the second Indian woman to score a double century after the great Mithali Raj, thanks to her remarkable opening stand with Smriti in the one-off Test.

She achieved the feat in 194 balls, making it the fastest double century in Women’s Tests history. The right-handed opener’s 205 in the first innings was the highest score for any Indian women’s batter, helping India to post a record total of 603/6, the greatest in Women’s Test history, allowing them to defeat South Africa in style.