Smriti Mandhana danced down the track. She launched into Ruchitha Venkatesh, and sent the hapless off-spinner over wide long-off.The six took her past fellow-Indian Mithali Raj, making her the leading scorer of runs in international women’s cricket.It was only fitting that her record-breaking stroke, in India’s Asia Cup match against Hong Kong China at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium last Thursday, came on the off-side. She is, after all, the goddess on the off-side.It was not just her former India captain that Smriti moved ahead of on account of her 64-ball 124. She also took the record for the most hundreds in women’s international cricket from Australian legend Meg Lanning, who retired at the age of 31, and South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt (17 each).Lanning and Mithali were the two outstanding batters in women’s cricket. Ian Bishop had once said, Lanning was one of the very few players, male or female, that he would stop whatever he was doing just to watch her bat. And she is regarded by many, including the great Charlotte Edwards, as the greatest female cricketer of all time.But for Mithali, humble and amiable off the field and ruthless on it, girls like Smriti would not have had an idol to look up to in India.Until a decade ago, Mithali was the main reason why people in the country were aware of the existence of women’s cricket in India. She would score big runs with remarkable regularity and force her way into the sports pages.Women’s cricket in India may be big now with big money, but for a long time it was the runs of Mithali and the wickets of Jhulan Goswami, along with thankless efforts from their teammates and their predecessors as well as the sacrifices of a man called Mahendra Kumar Sharma (an organiser who sold his property so that he could fund women’s cricket), that kept the sport alive.Mithali and Jhulan are a bit unlucky in that their careers ended a year before the WPL began. They deserved to be part of the most glamorous and lucrative league in women’s cricket.Smriti has certainly been lucky. Or cricket fans have been lucky. The WPL has played a major role in widening the fanbase of women’s cricket considerably. So a lot more people have been able to enjoy the sheer artistry of Smriti’s batting.Make no mistake, there is no one in women’s cricket that gives as much joy. Yes, Wolvaardt has her own fans, and her cover drive is perfection; it is one of the greatest sights in cricket. And yet, Smriti is in a league of her own. When she gets going, you know why sport, at the highest level, is able to compete with art. The thing with Smriti is that even when she isn’t at her best, she can look good enough.One recalls her speaking at a press conference about how she felt she wasn’t exactly at her best, after playing a big knock and some lovely strokes. That was the perfectionist in her speaking. A real artist is like that.While the artistry in her batting may be a gift, her phenomenal success is something she has worked hard for. When she was little, her mother asked her to reach the top of whatever activity she chose for herself. She followed that advice.Look at the way she is getting better and better. She is scoring faster, and she is converting far better, too. She has of late been hitting more hundreds in international cricket than she used to: last year alone, she made six of them.BreathtakingOne of those hundreds gave India an excellent chance of pulling off a most unlikely chase against Australia. The Aussie women had made 412, and that too, without even batting for the full 50 overs at New Delhi. That was 111 more than the successful chase in a Women’s ODI at the time (since then India and New Zealand have set new records).That night in Delhi, Beth Mooney, with a brilliant 75-ball 138, seemed to have batted India out of the match, but Smriti was in no mood to go down without a fight. Her breathtaking 125 off 63 balls raised India’s hopes. One recalls, while watching the match from the media box, going back to the scorecard of that incredible men’s ODI between South Africa and Australia at Johannesburg in 2006 (the host had chased down the target of 435 with Herschelle Gibbs making an unforgettable 111-ball 175).Like Gibbs, Smriti was batting as if she was in a dream. As long as she was at the wicket, the target was going to be reachable for India: after 20 overs, India was 204 for two. With skipper Harmanpreet Kaur batting alongside Smriti, the Women in Blue had every reason to think of the unthinkable. The two, however, were soon dismissed, and though Deepti Sharma scored a valiant 72, India went on to lose by 43 runs.