OTD | Smriti Mandhana was born in 1996

Smriti Mandhana, born on July 18, 1996, is an Indian batter who has delivered some outstanding performances for the team. She was born in Sangli, Maharashtra, to Smita and Shrinivas Mandhana. Smriti has an elder brother, Shravan, and she took up cricket after being inspired by seeing him. Mandhana, a natural right-handed person, began batting left-handed as she used her brother’s kit, who was left-handed.

Mandhana was naturally gifted with the bat and was selected for Maharashtra’s Under-15 team, and by eleven, she was picked for the Maharashtra Under-19 team. Her claim to fame was being the first Indian female cricketer to score a double-ton in an U19 one-day game. Soon she made her India women’s team debuts in ODIs and T20Is in 2013 against Bangladesh. Her Test debut came in 2014 against England.

Mandhana has had an amazing career thus far for India, scoring 629 runs in seven Tests with two centuries and three fifties. She has shone in ODIs the most, scoring 4473 runs in 102 games with 11 centuries and 31 fifties, with a remarkable average of 46.56. In 153 T20Is, she has 3982 runs with 31 fifties and one century. Mandhana is the only Indian woman batter to score centuries in all three formats of international cricket.

Not only in international cricket, she has performed well in franchise T20 cricket as well. Mandhana has participated in Women’s BBL and Women’s Hundred, apart from captaining Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women’s Premier League. She captained RCB to the WPL 2024 title, the franchise’s first T20 cup, to much acclaim from fans and the fellow cricketing fraternity.

Amongst the accolades, Mandhana is the second cricketer after Australia’s Ellyse Perry to win the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award (Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award) twice. She was the first batter to score 10 consecutive scores of 50-plus while chasing in ODIs. Mandhana has won a gold medal with the Indian team in the 2023 Asian Games and a silver medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Her narrative extends well beyond her statistics. She is a symbol of empowerment for young girls, particularly in India, where women’s sports have historically received little attention. 

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