Meet Smriti Mandhana, The Cricketer Who Is Making India Proud – News18

Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana made history a few months ago, becoming the most expensive player in women’s cricket. She is a part of the Indian Women’s National team. Smriti is also a player of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Women’s Premier League. Today, let us take a look at her journey in the world of cricket so far.

Smriti belongs to a Marwari family, where her brother and father were district cricket players. She got inspired after seeing her brother play in the U-16 tournament. With practice and hard work, at the age of nine, she was selected for the U-15 team. At the age of 11, Smriti was picked under the category of the U-19 team.

One of the well-known faces of the cricket world and a right-arm off-break bowler, Smriti has bagged many awards with her exceptional and powerful performances. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has awarded her as the Best Women International Cricketer in the BCCI awards. In 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded her as the best female cricketer of the year with the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award. She was further nominated with other female cricketers, including Tammy Beaumont, Lizelle Lee, and Gaby Lewis, in 2021 and 2022 for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year. She also bagged the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award in 2022.

Smriti Mandhana’s first breakthrough was in 2013 when she made a double hundred in a one-day game. She was the first Indian woman to achieve the same. She scored 224 off 150 balls, unbeaten. In the 2016 Women’s Challenger Trophy, she scored three half-centuries against India Blue with an unbeaten score of 62 off 82 balls and won the trophy for her team, India Red.

Recently, in the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, which was held in February, she became the highest bidder as she was purchased for Rs 3.4 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore and was also elected captain of the team.

Smriti Mandhana’s international career started in 2014 when she made her debut against England. There, she helped her team win the match by scoring 22 and 51 in her first and second innings, respectively. She was the only Indian player to be named in the ICC Women’s Team of the Year 2016. In her second ODI, she scored 102 off 109 balls, which also marked her first century internationally. In 2022, she was named to India’s team for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand and was the vice-captain of the India team for the cricket tournament at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.