Meg-astar skips into record books again

Meg Lanning calmly etched her name into the history books yet again on Wednesday, but there was a moment in the field that may have pleased the Australian captain and her fans just as much as her heroics with the bat.

Lanning became the first Australian, male or female, to pass 2000 T20I runs during her unbeaten innings of 41 against England in Mumbai. She’s the sixth woman to pass the milestone, reaching it in her 73rd innings, and only West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor has got there quicker.

But Lanning had already thrilled those at Brabourne Stadium earlier in the day when she took a stunning one-handed leaping catch to remove England danger woman Natalie Sciver for 10, part of an all-round brilliant display from the Australians that saw their Ashes rivals bowled out for 96.

The Australian captain is still recovering from the shoulder surgery that kept her out of the Ashes last summer and in her first matches back earlier this month looked understandably tentative when diving to her right side.

But there was no fear (more importantly, no foul) on Wednesday – perhaps, as Lanning noted post-match, because she simply didn’t have time to think about it.

"I didn’t really have time to think about it, which is probably a good thing,” Lanning said.

"It was one of those instinct things where you see it and I was trying to get a gauge on whether I’d have to jump and which hand go with and that stuff, so I ended up going with my right and it all worked out in the end."

Coming to the crease with Australia 2-12 needing just 97 runs for victory, it took Lanning eight balls to get off the mark with a single.

But when she got going, she got going, sending the next five deliveries she faced to the boundary, eventually finishing 41no from 28 deliveries.

"Obviously you don’t want to play seven dot balls to start an innings but I think it was more the play I was playing, I was trying to hit the ball too hard,” Lanning noted.

"That was putting more pressure on myself really.

"That over where I got going was more about just where I wanted to hit the ball and getting it there as opposed to trying to hit it really hard.

"Once I got going, I felt like I was in a good rhythm."

The only disappointment was not being able to complete a full over of boundaries.

"I was trying," Lanning laughed. "It nearly got through, that last one. But once you’re on a bit of a roll it can go two ways.

"You can think, ‘I’ve done well this over’ and just hit ones for the last couple, but we want to keep attacking as much as we can and I thought it was worth keeping on going for the rest of the over.”

Lanning’s 2000 T20I runs sit alongside the 3000 ODI runs she brought up earlier in the tour, taking her total runs across the three formats to 5198. 

Australia have a two day break now before Saturday's T20I tri-series final against England, who meet India in their final regular match on Thursday.

Commonwealth Bank Tour of India

Australia T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rumeli Dhar, Mona Meshram.

England T20I squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Katie George, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Anya Shrubsole, Bryony Smith, Nat Sciver, Fran Wilson, Danni Wyatt

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by 321 runs. Report

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by seven wickets. Report

ODI series

First ODI Australia won by eight wickets. Scorecard

Second ODI Australia won by 60 runs. Scorecard

Third ODI Australia won by 97 runs. Scorecard

T20I tri-series

First T20I Australia defeated India by six wickets. Scorecard

Second T20I England defeated Australia by eight wickets. Scorecard

Third T20I England defeated India by seven wickets. Scorecard

Fourth T20I Australia defeated India by 36 runs. Scorecard

Fifth T20I Australia defeated England by eight wickets. Scorecard

Sixth T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 29. Live Coverage

Final Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 31. Live Coverage