Smriti Mandhana: A Pillar Of Indian Women’s Cricket

Why Smriti Mandhana is considered the pillar of the Indian women’s cricket team

Smriti Mandhana has become one of the valuable assets of the Indian women’s cricket team. During her childhood days, she started to follow her brother to practice cricket and after a certain time, she gained immense popularity as the core player of Team India. It is expected that Smriti has the potential to take over the role of Mithali Raj, who is a skilled and key player in the team.

Currently, the 27-year-old cricketer ranks as one of the best batters in women’s cricket by achieving several records to her name. Along with the Australian legendary cricketer Ellyse Perry, Smriti Mandhana is the only Indian batter to win the prestigious ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award twice. Also, she received the highly respected Arjuna Award, to honor the highest achievements in sports in India.  Perhaps, this is one of the main reasons why she is hailed as the pillar of the Indian women’s cricket team.

As a captain of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Smriti led her team to the maiden Women’s Premier League (WPL) title in 2024.

Let’s delve deeper into Smriti Mandhana’s life, providing a detailed explanation of her remarkable journey from her early days to her successful career and various achievements.

Who is Smriti Mandhana: Personal Life and Educational Qualification

Smriti Shrinivas Mandhana was born on 18th July 1996 in Mumbai and soon gathered huge fame and popularity for her impressive skills as a left-handed batter. She quickly progressed through the ranks and secured her spot in the Indian national women’s cricket team.

Smriti’s Personal Life:

During her young days, Smriti developed a strong interest in cricket, while living in Sangli— a small town in Maharashtra (India). Especially, her father Shrinivas Mandhana played a main role in developing her talent, whereas her mother Smita Mandhana gave continuous encouragement and support throughout her cricket journey.

Her brother Shravan Mandhana also played cricket, which motivated Smriti to become the star cricketer of the nation.

Overall, Smriti’s family together nurtured her talent and passion for cricket at a young age.

Smriti’s Educational Qualification:

Despite Smriti Mandhana dedicating herself to cricket, she still maintained her focus on education. She completed her schooling at JS Khandekar High School in Sangli and continued to study for a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Chintamanrao College of Commerce. As a result, she maintained a perfect balance between her academic and cricketing career. This highlights Smriti’s balanced approach toward life by managing her time and efforts judiciously between her education and passion for cricket.  

How did Smriti Mandhana get into Cricket?

Smriti Mandhana has grown up watching her brother representing the Maharashtra state Under-16 tournaments, and this inspired her to take up cricket. At the age of 9 years, Smriti was chosen for Maharashtra’s Under-15 team and was selected for the Under-19 team at 11 years. 

She made her T20I and ODI debut in the white ball home series against Bangladesh in April 2013.

However, it was in October 2013 that Smriti achieved her main success by becoming the first Indian woman batter to score a double century in an ODI match. As a 17-year-old cricketer (during that time), Smriti played for Maharashtra against Gujarat in the West Zone Women’s Under-19 One-Day tournament. Her 150-ball-224-run knock steered her team to a total of 372 in 50 overs. This was one of the most important breakthroughs in her career, highlighting her outstanding talent in cricket at a young age. 

On 13th August 2014, Smriti made her debut for Team India against England. She scored 22 runs from 67 balls (including 3 fours) and 51 runs from 108 balls (including 9 fours) in the first and second innings.

Later, Smriti participated in domestic cricket representing teams like Maharashtra, Western Storm (English domestic cricket), Brisbane Heat (Australia’s Big Bash League), and Trailblazers (Women’s T20 challenge in India) in various domestic and franchise tournaments.

Smriti Mandhana’s Cricket Career: Important Stats to Know

It has been 11 years since Smriti Mandhana made her debut in cricket and her important stats are highlighted below in three different formats:

1. Tests: In 12 innings, Smriti scored 629 runs at an average of 57.18 and strike rate of 63.72 with 2 centuries and 3 half centuries to her name. She smashed 108 fours and 3 sixes which includes her highest score of 149 runs in her test career.
   
2. ODIs: Smriti’s ODI career has been impressive so far by scoring 3,585 runs in 85 innings at an average of 45.37 and strike rate of 85.07, with 7 hundreds and 27 fifties. It includes her highest score of 135 runs and holds the record of hitting 422 fours and 39 sixes, which proves her power-hitting abilities in white ball cricket.
   
3. T20Is: Smriti has played 133 T20I matches and accumulated 3,220 runs in 129 innings at an average of 27.52 and strike rate of 121.28, which includes her highest score of 87 runs. She struck 427 fours and 62 sixes, exhibiting an aggressive left-handed batting style.

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Conclusion:

The achievements of Smriti Mandhana have made women’s cricket more popular in India and encouraged the present generation of cricketers to start playing cricket to represent the national team in the future.

Ultimately, this young talented cricketer is a huge inspiration to young girls thereby promoting equality in the sport.