Reshma Gandhi: The 100s of Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur (136 and 103* respectively) were the biggest highlights of the victory for India in the second T20 in Bengaluru.

This is not the first time that two 100s were made in the same innings for India in women's ODIs. Smriti and Harmanpreet themselves have made this record earlier as well. Apart from this, Deepti Sharma and Poonam Raut and Mithali Raj and Reshma Gandhi also made this record. Out of all these, despite this special record, the one who has scored 100 runs in the same innings is the most successful batsman in the world. Cricketer The name that has been written about the least or never mentioned much is that of Reshma Gandhi.

Who was Reshma Gandhi?

Just talk about 26 June 1999, against Ireland ODIs Reshma and Mithali are not 100 in the list – there are some other special things to that performance

* The scores of these two were Reshma Gandhi- 104* and Mithali Raj- 114* and they batted for full 50 overs.

* ODIs The record of playing 300 balls in a partnership (258*) was made for the first time then.

* This was the ODI debut for both of them, meaning they made this record on their debut.

* 258 runs were scored in their partnership then by women Cricket He set a new record for the first wicket in 1976 which remained in his name for almost 9 years. India won the match by 161 runs- at that time India It was the biggest victory of.

Why did it happen that out of these two, Mithali Raj's career lasted for more than two decades while Reshma's international career lasted only for 2 ODIs. Isn't it surprising that the player who made her ODI debut with such a record performance was not given any more chance by the selectors after playing her in just one ODI?

Reshma Gandhi was a cricketer from Maharashtra – wicketkeeper and top batsman. Then she played for West Zone and Northern Railways and finally for India. A good wicketkeeper and technically a good right-handed batsman – she preferred to rotate the strike by taking 1 and 2 runs instead of 4 and 6. Despite 104* on debut, she could not surpass Anju Jain, the team's first choice wicketkeeper as a wicketkeeper. Another special thing that was not recorded – out of these two, the first 100 was scored by Reshma, not Mithali Raj – Reshma was the first Indian to score 100 in ODI debut. Not only this – this was the first 100 by any Indian cricketer in ODI in men's and women's cricket. Despite this record performance in Milton Keynes, when the selectors in India forgot her, then who would remember her in international cricket?

Neither did the media highlight her nor did she ever appear on social media. There are many examples in cricket when the presence of a special player in the team does not allow any other talent to come forward – the same happened here. Anju Jain was also a good wicketkeeper-batsman. The team was on a UK tour and believe me, despite this record 100, when Anju Jain returned in the next match against England, Reshma was dropped. Incidentally, Mithali got out on 4 and 0 in her next two matches, so in the third match, Reshma was given a chance in her place as a pure batsman. See – she was an opener in her first match, and was the number 7 batsman in this match. Reshma scored 18* which proved to be her last international innings. Therefore, it cannot be said that due to failure, she did not take advantage of the opportunity she got. Even the selectors did not give Reshma a chance as a batsman after that.

In her List A career, Reshma scored 269 runs in 13 matches at an average of 38.42 – this included one 100 and two 50s. She played her last match within 18 months of her debut. The captain of the Indian team at that time was Chandrakant Kaul. She said about this record partnership many years later – 'We told Mithali and Reshma to just stay there and stay at the crease. We also told them not to take Ireland's bowling lightly and just keep batting…both played really well and we did not get a chance to bat. It has been a long time but I still remember those moments.'

There is another identity of Reshma Gandhi which is not discussed in the records. Reshma married Manvinder Singh – Railway cricketer, Delhi selector and early mentor of Team India pacer Ishant. Manvinder Singh was his first guide – Ishant Sharma never denied this. Manvinder was also in India's Under-19 team in 1989-90. During the days of Covid, he also fell victim to it and passed away – he was 53 years old then.

Manvinder played 8 first class matches between 1992-93 and 1993-94 and scored 364 runs with 3 50s. Manvinder took Ishant to school, got him admitted and when Ishant could not study up to the standard of Salwan Public School, he got him entry in Ganga International School and Rohtak Road Gymkhana Cricket Club and from here Ishant's cricket career started. Manvinder himself was in the India Under-19 team against Pakistan Under-19 in the first Youth Test at Feroz Shah Kotla in January 1990 but could not play due to injury and the player who replaced him went on to become a star. It was none other than Anil Kumble.