The dynamic opening combination of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal has rewritten the record books in women's ODI cricket, achieving the highest partnership average in the format's history. The pair averaged 84.6 - the highest for any opening pair, beating Caroline Atkins and Sarah Taylor, according to Cricket.com.

The left-right pairing was the first Indian pair to score 1000 runs in 12 innings, a record in Indian cricket. Their reliability has changed Indian batting strategy in the past two months, as the two players have produced match-winning innings in various series.

The partnership hit a peak during India's recent tour. Mandhana and Rawal broke records with their 233-run opening stand as India crossed 400 for the first time in ODIs, on their way to their biggest win, as reported by ESPNCricinfo. Mandhana scored 135 off 80 balls with 12 fours and seven sixes for her tenth ODI century, the fastest by an Indian woman in 70 balls.

Rawal's contribution to the partnership has been equally impressive. Pratika Rawal became the third Indian batter to score 150 or more runs in an ODI. She shared a 233-run partnership with captain Smriti Mandhana, according to SportsTak. Her recent series performance demonstrated her growing maturity as an international cricketer, where she was also awarded the Player of the Series for topping the run-scoring charts with 310 runs at a strike rate of 108.39 and a mind-boggling average of 103.33 in three innings.

The opening pair's success began with their first partnership against the West Indies. Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana became only the third Indian opening pair to have a 100-run partnership with a debutant.

Before this, Jaya Sharma-Anju Jain (1229 runs) and Jaya Sharma-Karuna Jain (1169 runs) were the only two to have scored 1000 runs, indicating how uncommon their feat is.