Sobhana Mostary struck an unbeaten 118 off 134 balls in the second women’s ODI between Australia and Bangladesh in Brisbane on October 11, 2026. The innings featured 18 fours and came after Bangladesh found themselves in early trouble at 8 for 3 in the eighth over. Sobhana’s partnership with captain Nigar Sultana, who remained unbeaten on 74 off 114 balls, proved decisive as the pair added 195 runs for the fourth wicket, Bangladesh’s highest partnership for any wicket in women’s ODIs.
Sobhana became the first Bangladesh women’s cricketer to score a century against Australia, and her 118 is now the highest individual score by a Bangladesh woman in women’s ODIs, surpassing Fargana Hoque’s 107 against India in 2023. She is the third Bangladesh batter to score an ODI century, after Fargana Haque and Nigar Sultana. Bangladesh posted 220-6 in their innings, though Australia chased down the target in 28.1 overs, winning by nine wickets and sealing the three-match ODI series with a match to spare.
Sobhana attributed her success to the quality of her square-of-the-wicket shots, a strength she has developed over her career.
“My shots square off the wicket have always been good. I like to play cut shots. Even if it’s a turning wicket or a low wicket, I want to play cut shots. So, I have always practiced this since I was young. So, when I heard that, actually, here, for example, before coming, Shaon Bhai, the national team analyst, was saying, ‘Sobhana, play square of the wicket there. You’ll see most balls coming behind.’ And Supta Apu was saying, ‘You’re good at cut shots, you can score a lot of runs.’ So, these small pieces of information from others also actually came in handy,” Mostary said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“I would say the wicket is very good. But against Australia’s bowling they were very good and they were bowling in very good areas. Like, we have heard before that Australia plays well square of the wicket. So, today I feel I grabbed this opportunity,” she added.
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Sobhana credited her success to patience and a clear plan against Australia’s disciplined bowling attack, waiting for opportunities to score square of the wicket rather than forcing the pace.
“I was thinking that actually, when they bowl very few bad balls, I still feel I play well square of the wicket. I was actually waiting repeatedly for that ball. If you look at my map, most of my runs came from square cuts and covers. So, I was actually waiting for that ball. Other than that, any other ball they were bowling, I was either taking a single or defending. I was actually trying to build the innings,” said Mostary.
