Johnson Cherian.
At the age of 19, when girls her age would have been contemplating a career, Smriti Mandhana had already established herself as a force to reckon with in the Indian women cricket team. She made her international debut at the age of 16 in 2013.
While talking to Cricinfo last year, Smriti Mandhana said, “I used to train in the morning, then go to school, and then have nets in the evening.” “Sometimes, if the teachers let me go early, I used to finish evening nets and then go home and watch TV.”
In the current ICC Women Cricket World Cup, the left-handed Smriti Mandhana had two scintillating knocks that formed the backbone of the Indian innings. She scored 90 off just 72 balls (11 fours and 2 sixes) against England, missing a well-deserved hundred. She, along with Raut, put up a 144-run opening partnership, and later continued to tear apart the English bowling along with her captain Mithali Raj. India scored a competitive 281 and then bundled out the English for 246 to win the match by 35 runs.
In the second match against West Indian women, Smriti Mandhana continued to dominate the bowling. Chasing a modest 184 against the World T20 champions, Smriti Mandhana held her nerve after losing Raut and Sharma early. Mandhana and Mithali joined up again and stitched together a 108-run partnership, with Smriti Mandhana scoring a brilliant hundred (106 off 108 balls with 13 boundaries and 2 sixes).
For her efforts, she received the player-of-the-match award for the second consecutive time. During the presentation ceremony, Smriti Mandhana said “I was quite nervous after 90 but my partner Mona told me not to play a rash shot. This knock is special because we were chasing and my first hundred came in a losing cause (against Australia). Also this comes in a World Cup game.”
At the age of 20, Smriti Mandhana has played 25 ODIs, scoring 897 runs at an average of 37.37. Her highest is 106 not out, with two centuries and six fifties also in the bag.
In the two tests she has played, she has scored 81 runs at an average of 27.00 with highest being 51. In the 27 T20 internationals, Smriti Mandhana has scored 424 runs at an average of 17.66 with 52 being her highest.
