NEWS
India’s aggressive opener and batting mainstay Smriti Mandhana is currently the World’s top ranked ODI player. The stylish left hander has played 47 ODIs, scoring 1798 runs at an impressive average of 41.81 which includes 4 centuries and 14 half centuries and the highest score of 135. The Sangli girl has played 55 T20Is, scoring 1226 runs at a strike rate of 118.11 which includes 8 half centuries and a top score of 86.
Mandhana made her debut at only 18 years in international cricket back in 2014. In 2016, she became the only Indian player to be named in the ICC Women’s Team of the Year 2016. The same year she was picked up by the Brisbane Heat to play in the Big Bash Women’s league. She was the only second Indian cricketer along with T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur to have featured in the league.
The 22-year-old has cemented her spot in the Indian team. Her fan following has grown by leaps and bounds. She has also been looked up as a captaincy prospect for the Women in Blue. The Maharashtrian follows a strict diet and fitness regime to keep herself strong and healthy.
She is a vegetarian, so meat cannot be included as her source of protein. Therefore Mandhana has eggs, protein shakes and soybean for proteins.
She says, “We follow a rather stringent diet set by the team’s nutritionist. Since I don’t eat meat, I have to really take care of my protein intake. So, I include a lot of protein shakes, eggs and soybean in my meals.”
Mandhana usually sticks to a basic Indian diet, along with soups and salads so that she can remain fit, alert and agile before a match.
Cricket is a physically demanding sport. Endurance, stamina and strength are absolutely essential for a player to get through a game.
Mandhana tells that she and her teammates follow an easy gym session right before a match, as they don’t like to be under stress before heading out to the field to play.
“During off season, we train really hard,” says Mandhana. “We amp up our workouts and try to take our gym and fitness routines to another level.” Besides this, Mandhana loves going for a run daily.
When she was asked about her targets and goals, she tells DNA, “The goal would be winning World Cup for India. Not many individual goals. I don’t like sharing them. They are not big goals. I don’t set goals and work accordingly. If you set a goal, it doesn’t happen. You just have to follow the process and don’t complicate it. If goals would be achieved so easily then people would have done it every now and then. It doesn’t happen like that. My only goal is to play full 50 overs if I am set. The goal keeps changing. Be consistent: that is what my goal is. It is not materialistic like 100s or 1000 runs in a year or anything like that. For me, it’s simple things of cricket. Win the match for India. That is what all my goals are.”
Mandhana tells that her parents’ role has been huge in shaping her career. She says, “A girl from Marwari community playing cricket is a big thing. Mom and dad wanted me to play some sport. Any sport. My mom used to like individual sport more than team sports. So, she wanted me to play tennis. Later she realised that I am mad after cricket. Then she said, ‘OK let her play cricket’.
“Dad would take me to cricket grounds. Because of them, I am playing. If they would have taken the ‘ladki ko nahi khilate (women shouldn’t be allowed to play)’ comments from people seriously, then I would not have played cricket. I would’ve sat at home and done some cooking classes.
“My mom and dad have faced objections from the society, but they did not let it come to me. They filtered all that. They said, ‘tu tera cricket khel, baaki hum sambhaal lenge (you play your cricket, we will take care of the rest)’. Don’t know what was all that.
“Some people would say that I would become dark in the sun, and who will marry me if I played cricket. I never reacted. My mom would tell me, ‘let them say, but when you will play for India the same people will admire you’. Now they recognise me and look up to me. I feel good.” Smriti added.
Mandhana, a left hander herself, tells that her favourite cricketers were Matthew Hayden and Kumara Sangakkara.
Besides this, the youngster loves to play FIFA on her off days and her favourite dish is Sangli’s Bhel.
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