Bhartiya Mahila Cricket Team – Along with Australia legend Ellys Perry, only Indian batsman Smriti Mandhana has won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award twice.
From shadowing her brother to practicing cricket to becoming one of the pillars of the Indian women’s cricket team and heir to the Mithali Raj talisman, Smriti Mandhana’s journey is fascinating.
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Considered to be the best batsman in women’s cricket at the moment, Smriti Mandhana has many notable records to her name.
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A former World No. 1 ODI watch in the ICC Women’s Cricket Rankings, Smriti Mandhana is also the youngest captain of the Indian cricket team ever – men or women.
Smriti Mandhana was born in Mumbai on July 18, 1996, but when she was two, her family moved to the suburbs of Madhavnagar in Sangli, Maharashtra, where she spent her formative years.
Cricket has always been a part of the Mandhana household where his father played at district level. Her brother Shravan also played cricket and represented the Maharashtra U-19 team before quitting the game and eventually becoming a banker.
Although Shravan did not continue with cricket, his presence in Smriti Mandhana’s life had a great influence on her becoming a cricketer. Smriti’s passion for cricket grew when she went to practice with her brother, who was four years older than her.
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Glimpses slowly turned into dreams after her brother started doing well in the lower levels and his name appeared in the local papers. Smriti used to cut scraps for her scrapbook.
“One day, I want to score runs like that too,” Smriti Mandhana told ESPNCricinfo. “My father never said no to me, so whenever my brother went to a net, he would gently hit me with balls.”
“My brother and I played left-handed as my father loved left-handed batsmen. That’s how it started,” explained Smriti.
At the age of nine, Smriti Mandhana broke into the U-15 Maharashtra team and after dominating senior opponents, was quickly inducted into the state U-19 team at the age of just 11.
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At the age of 15, Smriti Mandhana found herself at a crossroads with her exams approaching. She wanted to study science but her mother discouraged her as she knew it would be difficult to balance cricket and studies.
Mandhana opted for commerce and later completed her graduation from Chintaman Rao College of Commerce, Sangli. This helped her to devote more time to cricket.
Smriti Mandhana made her international debut for India in the T20 match against Bangladesh Women in Vadodara on 5 April. He was only 16 years old then.
On her debut, Smriti Mandhana was India’s top scorer (39 off 36 balls) and helped the team to a 10-run win to wrap up the bilateral series 3–0.
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Five days later, Smriti Mandhana made her One Day International (ODI) debut against Bangladesh in Ahmedabad on 10 April. The young man who came in at number 3 played a good innings with 25 runs off 35 balls.
Interestingly, Smriti Mandhana’s bat looked a bit too big for her height during her limited overs debut. She revealed that it was not actually her playing bat, but a practice bat signed by Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid, which was gifted to her by her brother.
“Shravan met Rahul sir and asked if he can give the bat. So he gave it to him and had him sign it with my name. My brother was also very sweet and signed it for me. I was going to keep it as a showpiece as an autographed bat from Dravid, but once I picked it up, I realized it had great balance and started playing with it,” says Smriti Mandhana.
In an under-19 international ODI at the Alembic Cricket Ground in Vadodara, Smriti Mandhana scored an unbeaten 224 off just 150 balls against Gujarat. Smriti Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score a double century at any level in a 50 over cricket match. He scored two more centuries in the tournament.
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On 13 August 2014, Mandana made her Test debut against England at Wormsley. He scored 22 runs in the first and 51 runs in the second.
It was a historic win for the Indian women’s cricket team, marking the team’s first Test match in eight years with the only encounter against Wormsley.
Since then, Smriti Mandhana has been an integral part of the Indian set-up and one of the pillars of batting along with Harmanpreet Kaur and the now retired Mithali Raj.
Smriti Mandhana scored her maiden international century (102 off 109 balls) in an ODI match at Bellerive Oval, Hobart in 2016. She was named in the ICC Women’s Team of the Year that season.
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In 2017, Smriti Mandhana was instrumental in India reaching the final of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup, where India lost to England by just nine runs in the final. This is India’s first World Cup final since 2005.
Smriti Mandhana, who had to race against time to be fit for the tournament after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), was India’s third top scorer in the tournament behind Mithali and Harmanpreet. He scored 232 runs in nine matches, including an unbeaten century against the West Indies.
The following year, Smriti Mandhana was the highest run-scorer in women’s ODI matches and was also India’s leading run-getter in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World T20 tournament in the West Indies.
Smriti Mandhana also equaled Kiwi ace Sophie Devine’s record for the fastest 50 in women’s T20 cricket when she scored 50 off just 18 balls in a Kia Super League 2018 match against Western Storm against Loughborough Lightning.
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She won both ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year 2018.
In the same month, she earned the honor of becoming India’s youngest cricket captain in both men’s and women’s T20 history after stepping in for injured captain Harmanpreet Kaur in the first match of the three-match series against England in Guwahati.
Smriti Mandhana was only 22 years and 229 days old at that time. Before her, Harmanpreet, at the age of 23 years and 237 days, became the youngest captain of India’s women’s T20I team. Suresh Raina took charge of the men’s T20 team at the age of 23 years and 197 days.
In 2019, the Maharashtra batsman scored a 24-ball fifty against New Zealand in February, the fastest 50 by an Indian woman in T20I cricket at the time.
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After a Covid-disrupted 2020, Smriti Mandhana once again starred for India in 2021, winning the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for the second time. Along with Australian legend Eli Perry, Mandana is the only player in history to win the prestigious award twice.
Although India failed to make it past the group stage of the 2021-22 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, Smriti Mandhana was India’s top scorer in the tournament with 327 runs in seven matches.
Smriti Mandhana was also part of the Indian cricket team that won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. He acted as India’s vice-captain in the T20 tournament. Smriti Mandhana smashed a 23-ball half-century against England in the CWG semi-final, breaking her record for the fastest T20I 50 by an Indian woman.
In the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL), the women’s equivalent of the highly successful men’s Indian Premier League (IPL), Smriti Mandhana became the highest paid player with INR 3.4 crores. He was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during the WPL 2023 auction.
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Soon after, in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa, Smriti Mandhana scored her highest score in T20 cricket when she scored a match-winning 87 against Ireland. She described it as one of her toughest games, considering the windy conditions that day at St George’s Park.
Only in her 20s, Smriti Mandhana still has a long career ahead of her, but her cricket stats are top notch. He has already crossed 2,000 runs in ODIs and T20Is.
Only two other Indian women, Mithali and Harmanpreet, have managed to cross the 2000-run mark in T20Is so far. Indian Women’s National Cricket Team – “Women in Blue” is the nickname of the Indian women’s cricket team. The current India women’s cricket team is as follows:
Smriti, a left-handed batsman, was the only Indian player selected for the ICC Women’s Team of the Year 2016. For the year 2013–14, she won the MA Chidambaram Trophy from the BCCI as the best female cricketer. With her performance on the roll, Smriti signed with the Women’s Big Bash League team Brisbane Heat in 2016. Blessed with her timing, her batting is graceful.
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