Women’s T20 World CupAustralia’s Meg Lanning becomes 1st ever cricketer to serve as captain in 100 T20Is

By Sabyasachi ChowdhuryAustralia’s Meg Lanning, on Sunday, February 26, became the first cricketer to serve as captain in 100 T20Is, combining men’s and women’s cricket. She achieved the feat in her team’s Women’s T20 World Cup final against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town.

India’s Harmanpreet Kaur and England’s Charlotte Edwards have captained in 96 and 93 T20Is respectively. In men’s cricket, former international cricketer Aaron Finch is leading the charts, having captained in 76 T20Is from 2014 to 2022.

Lanning took charge as the full-time skipper of the Australia team back in 2014 after Jodie Fields announced her retirement from all forms of cricket. She hasn’t looked back since then, as Australia have carved themselves a niche in top-level cricket.

Lanning has flourished big time as a batter as well as she is the second-highest run-scorer in Women’s T20Is after New Zealand’s Suzie Bates.

In the ongoing World Cup, Lanning has captained with precision. Australia finished on top of the table in Group A courtesy of victories in all four of their matches. Lanning’s women found themselves in a bit of a hole in the semi-final against India in Cape Town.

But Darcie Brown, who won the Player of the Match award, saved the day for the five-time champion. In the first five games of the mega event, Lanning scored 139 runs at an average of 69.50 and a strike-rate of 115.83 with a top score of an unbeaten 49.

Apart from her stupendous numbers in WT20Is, Lanning has also racked up 4602 runs in WODIs and 345 runs in Test cricket.