Wonder woman Mandhana

rajkot: Records tumbled like nine pins as the Indian women’s cricket team, powered by skipper Smriti Mandhana’s 70-ball century, demolished Ireland by a whopping 304 runs to claim its biggest-ever ODI win and complete a 3-0 sweep here on Wednesday.

The result of the match was a mere formality once India set Ireland a massive target of 436, and Ireland could only garner 131 before getting bundled out in 31.4 overs.

India put the first step forward towards a crushing victory through record-breaking Mandhana (135 off 80 balls) and her opening partner Pratika Rawal (154 off 129 balls), reaching 435/5, highest total by an Indian team — men’s or women’s — in ODIs.

India men’s highest ODI total is 418/5 made against West Indies in Indore in 2011.

Mandhana and Rawal added a whopping 233 runs for the first wicket in just 26.4 overs and there was no looking back.

Then spinners Tanuja Kanwar (2/31) and Deepti Sharma (3/27) took over, sharing five wickets among them to decimate the Irish line-up, which was well short on experience.

Orla Prendergast (36) and Sarah Forbes (41) added 64 runs for a fluent third wicket stand that helped Ireland to recover from a shaky 24/2 to reach 88 without further damage.

But once Prendergast was cleaned up by Kanwar, India were all over the tourists, claiming the remaining seven wickets for just 33 runs.

It also helped India eclipse their previous largest margin of victory (by runs) — 249 registered against the same opposition in 2017 at Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Mandhana’s 10th ODI century came off just 70 deliveries as the left-hander surpassed Harmanpreet Kaur’s 87-ball hundred mark against South Africa last year.

It also set the tone for India breaching the 400-run mark for the first time, joining Australia and New Zealand in that elite list.

Mandhana was her usual destructive self, and was not afraid to take the aerial route over the ‘V’ and clear the 30-yard circle.