Smriti Mandhana scores the joint-fastest fifty in women's T20 cricket

Indian star batter Smriti Mandhana has been in fine form in the ongoing Kia Women's Cricket Super League T20 tournament and she has taken it to a whole new level as she slammed the fastest fifty in women's T20 cricket during Western Storm's match against Loughborough Lightning at Taunton.

Only six overs?@mandhana_smriti doesn't care... she's smashing it all over the park 🔥🔥➡️ https://t.co/PyBOfpvlZH pic.twitter.com/HaskastbZt

— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) July 29, 2018

Smriti opened the batting for Western Storm in a rain-truncated six-over per side match and got her team off to a flying start by hitting a six off the very first ball she faced in her innings. There was no stopping her as she hit five fours and four sixes in her 19-ball 52 and reached her fifty off just 18 balls, which is the fastest by any batswoman in the tournament.

She broke the record of New Zealand's Rachel Priest's 22-ball fifty which the White Ferns international scored in the tournament last season.

Smriti's 18-ball fifty is not only the fastest fifty in the tournament's history but is also the joint fastest in women's T20 cricket along with New Zealand's Sophie Devine's 18-ball fifty against India in Bangalore in 2015.

Smriti has been in some kind of form of late as she scored the fastest T20 fifty by an Indian woman off just 30 balls against Australia and broke her own record in the same tournament when she took five balls lesser to reach the landmark against England.

Smriti's knock helped her side reach 85/ in six overs. Chasing 86 runs to win the match, the Lightning openers Rachel Haynes and Sophie Devine went after the bowling but fell short of Western Storm's score by 18 runs. Sophie tried her best to win the game for her team by remaining unbeaten on 46 off just 21 balls but that wasn't enough for her side to register a victory.

This is Smriti's third thirty-plus score in as many innings in the tournament as she registered a 20-ball 48 and a 31-ball 37 against Yorkshire Diamonds and Surrey Stars respectively.