India's opening batter Smriti Mandhana on Monday, January 24, won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year for 2021, the only woman to maintain a high record despite the pandemic in 2021.ICC tweeted the news with a caption: A year to remember “Smriti Mandhana's quality at the top of the order was on full display in 2021”The batter known for her astounding skills specifically the memorable limited-overs series against South Africa where India won just two of the eight matches at home in which Mandhana played a major role in making the country win both the matches. She made 80 not out as India chased down 158 in the second ODI that helped them level the series, and scored 48 not out in the win in the final T20I.Moreover, she becomes only the second player, after Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry, to win the highest individual distinction in the women's overall category of the annual ICC awards more than once.Earlier, Mandhanan was named ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2018, defeated fellow opening batters Beaumont, Lizelle Lee of South Africa, and Gaby Lewis of Ireland to the honour. Jhulan Goswami, who won the same award in 2007, is the only other Indian woman to ever win an ICC annual award, followed by Mandhanan in 2018. (With Inputs From Agencies)
