Smriti Mandhana has proved on more than one occasion why is she called the national crush of India. The left hand batter from Mumbai set the heartbeats racing with he swashbuckling batting style and her innocent looks. She has played an anchor role in Indian Women’s cricket team and has steered the team to glorious victories with her batting prowess.
Inspired by her brother
Only a few would know that Smriti Mandhana uses her right hand for everything except batting. Reason – she copied her brother as a kid who was a left hand batsman playing professional cricket. The idea of taking up cricket first came to young Mandhana after watching her brother play under-16 tournaments in the state of Maharashtra. She started practicing with him and soon made it to her state’s Under-15 (and later) Under-19 sides.
Mandhana’s family is closely involved in her cricketing activities, She always got the support that was needed to excel at professional level. Her father Shrinivas, a chemical distributor, takes care of her cricket programme while her mother Smita took charge of her diet and clothing etc. Her brother Shravan still bowls to her in the nets.
Her records as a professional cricketer
In March 2018, she broke her own record of scoring the fastest fifty for India in a Women’s Twenty20 International (WT20I) fixture, taking just 25 balls in the opening match of the tournament against England.
Her previous record came against Australia women in the 2017–18 India women’s Tri-Nation Series in which she took 30 balls to reach a half-century.
Her banters on the field with another torpedo in the Indian cricket Harmanpreet Kaur is now a folklore.
The whole nation now hopes that Smriti Mandhana will play a few memorable innings in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup and bring home the glory. India looks a completely different side when she scores freely. Here’s wishing her all the best.
