Smriti Mandhana is already a great batter, who made to the Indian women's cricket in her own right and will only go from strength to strength from here on.
Best in India
Smriti Mandhana is the most talented batter in Indian cricket. Having represented India in 71 ODIs, Mandhana has already scored 2788 runs at an average of over 40 and a strike rate of 83.90 with the help of five centuries and 22 half-centuries.
Undoubtedly, she will end up as a proper batting legend whenever her career finishes. The 25-year-old is still young and has at least 10 years of cricket left in her. She is also quite progressive and has continued to advocate the women's IPL which will unearth more and more talent in women's cricket.
Backs Women's IPL
"The T20 Challenge was always going to be a stepping stone for the Women's IPL. So definitely, whenever it starts, this (T20 Challenge) is a pretty important tournament in that regard. We get to see the kind of talent women's cricket has in domestic cricket and to come out there on the big stage. So, in that regard it's going to be a good advertisement for the women's IPL," Mandhana said about the Women's T20 Challenge.
"This is, of course, an Indian Women's T20 Challenge, so we would want our uncapped players to go out there and play something which is very close to international cricket," Mandhana said when asked about giving more exposure to home-grown talent. "But two or three matches, I think, is a really less number of matches to give opportunities to everyone, but we all are really going to try to do that."
Shining in WC
In India's campaign in the 2022 women's ODI World Cup, Mandhana finished the competition as the team's highest run scorer with 327 runs from 7 matches at an average of 46 and a strike rate of 78.04.
She struck one century in the competition, her best of 123 against West Indies, and also hit two half centuries while striking 30 boundaries and 4 sixes in the competition.
When the team required her to fire in their most important group match against South Africa, Mandhana delivered yet again with 71 off 84 deliveries.
Unfortunately, she did not get enough support from the side overall and the team was knocked out in the group stage itself.
