Smriti Mandhana aims to leave her mark at the World Cup as India's vice-captain
New Delhi: Smriti Mandhana, a dynamic batter for the Indian women’s cricket team, has emer...
New Delhi: Smriti Mandhana, a dynamic batter for the Indian women’s cricket team, has emerged as a leading figure in women’s cricket, demonstrating her exceptional leadership abilities as the vice-captain of India and the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). In a remarkable achievement, she steered RCB to their inaugural Women’s Premier League title in 2024, further solidifying her reputation as a top player. Looking ahead, her sights are now set on the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, scheduled to commence on October 3.
The 28-years-old batter’s game has evolved a lot since her international debut in 2013. She added a power game, and a great pull shot which helped to establish herself as one of the most consistent batters in world cricket.
Smriti represented Maharashtra at senior level at the age of 13 years, and captained the side at 16.
Mandhana made her international debut in a T20I game against Bangladesh on April 5 in 2013, since then she always contributed to the team’s success. In the year of 2014, she made her Test debut with a fantastic half-century against England in Wormsley.She became the face of the women’s T20 revolution in India long before the Women’s Premier League was established, becoming only the second Indian to sign a franchise deal with the WBBL team Brisbane Heat.
Smriti featured in 85 ODIs, and amassed 3585 runs with seven centuries at an average of 45.37 with a strike rate of 85.07. She played 141 T20Is and gathered 3493 runs at an average of 28.86 consisting of 26 half-centuries. In the Test format, she played only seven matches and amassed 629 runs so far at an average of 57.18.
Among all the runs and records she has gathered, Mandhana’s best achievement so far would be that WPL 2024 title that she won with Royal Challengers Bengaluru being captain for it. She was actually the costliest player ahead of the inaugural edition of the tournament at an amount of INR 3.4 crore, which then exchanged for about USD 415,000 at that time.
