Sports: Tahlia McGrath registered a massive milestone during Australia's last ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 group-stage game against India on Sunday. The star batting all-rounder stepped in to captain the team in the absence of injured Alyssa Healy and scored a brilliant 32 runs to enter the history books.

McGrath, playing in her only 37th T20I innings, completed her 1000 T20I runs after scoring 10 runs and became the fastest Australian in terms of innings to achieve his remarkable feat in Sharjah. The stand-in skipper broke the legendary captain Meg Lanning's record of the fastest 1000 T20I runs in 38 innings, which occurred in 2014. 

Lanning retired earlier this year as Australia's leading run-scorer in the shortest format of the game. Lanning scored 3406 runs in 121 T20I innings and her first 1000 runs came in 2014 in just 38 innings. Among full-time member nations, Lanning was the second-fastest to 1000 T20I runs, playing just one innings more than the former England captain Charlotte Edwards who achieved it in 35 innings in 2011. 

Beth Mooney came very close to breaking Lanning's record for Australia in 2020 but fell just an innings short. McGrath made her T20I debut in 2021 and quickly established herself as one of the consistent performers in Australia's star-studded batting unit. 

However, she would have broken Lanning's feat or even Edwards' all-time record earlier in this tournament but didn't get a chance to bat in two innings. She batted in the no.8 position against New Zealand and scored unbeaten nine runs. But, as in stand-in captain, she promoted herself up in the batting order and proved her worth by breaking Lanning's major T20I record.

Fastest to 1000 T20I runs for Australia

1. 37 innings - Tahlia McGrath in 2024
2. 38 innings - Meg Lanning in 2014
3. 39 innings - Beth Mooney in 2020
4. 40 innings - Elyse Villani in 2017
5. 49 innings - Ashleigh Gardner in 2017