Chennai: At a time when cricket was considered a male bastion with the likes of big hitters like Kohli, Gayle, de Villiers and Dhoni ruling the roost, came young Smrithi Mandhana. Being part of Team India women’s cricket team, she fast rose to stardom with her lusty hitting opening the batting.
In the latest rankings released recently, the 22-year-old, left-handed opener grabbed the No. 1 spot. Smriti was the player of the series in the recently-concluded, three-match ODI series against New Zealand. She had scored 105 and 90 in the first two ODIs, helping India to a rare series win in New Zealand. She was also conferred with the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
In 2018, the left-hand batter really came into her own. In one-day internationals, she scored 669 runs from just 12 innings at a remarkable average of 66.90, and in Twenty20 Internationals, she raked up 622 runs from 23 innings at 28.27 and a strike-rate of 130.67.
She was also third on the run-scoring charts for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018 in the Caribbean, making 178 from five knocks. Right since her debut in 2013, Mandhana was spoken of as a promising player, but in the last two years she has ensured that the promise has materialised into consistent results. She credits a more discerning mindset for her improvement.
“I have been selective about shots. Having a lot of shots in your book can make you a better batsman but it gets you in trouble as well, because you may be tempted to feel every ball has to be hit,” she reflected. She says, “The best is yet to come.”