Smriti Mandhana Wins Arjuna Award for Contribution to Cricket

Youngest Indian Women Cricketer Smriti Mandhana – Lady Virat Kohli

Smriti Mandhana is famously known as the Lady Virat of the team because of her powerful knocks. Her contribution to the Indian Cricket team in just a few years is just unmatchable. This woman has made a permanent spot for herself in the Indian team due to her back-to-back top-notch performances.

This young batswoman can hit the balls beyond the stadium. Smriti has played in all the formats for the Indian team. With an innocent face and a beautiful smile on her face, this woman knows how to make her team win with her brilliant batting.

Smriti Mandhana – Statistics

• Full Name – Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana
• Born - 18 July 1996 (24 years)
• Birth Place - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Role - Batswoman
• Batting - Left-handed
• Bowling - Right-arm medium
• No. of Tests played - 2
• No. of ODIs played - 51
• No. of T20I played - 75

Smriti Mandhana – Maharashtra U-19 Team

Smriti started playing cricket at a very young age of just six years. She got inspired by her brother who, also played for the Maharashtra team U-16. She also got selected for Maharashtra's women team for U-15 when she was just nine years old. She was picked for the U-19 team as well when she was 11 years old.

From the beginning of her career, she was always inclined towards batting. Her father managed all the tournaments around her studies and, her mother used to take care of her diet.

Record: Smriti holds the record of scoring the first double century by a woman in ODI. She scored an unbeaten 224 runs in just 150 balls during the U-19 match.

Smriti Mandhana - Personal Life and Family

Smriti was born to Shrinivawas and Smita Mandhana in Mumbai. She completed her schooling at Sangli in Maharashtra. Both her father and elder brother have played on the district level and, this is what inspired Smriti to take up cricket as a career choice.

Her brother, Sharavan, is four years older than her and, he used to bowl her in the nets during practice sessions. Her family has always been very supportive of Smriti's choosing to become a cricketer.

Smriti Mandhana – Career

• Test Career Smriti made her Test debut against England in 2014. She scored 22 and 51 in the first two innings and, her team won that match. She has only played two tests till now, a batting average of 27 and one international fifty.
• ODI Career Smriti made her ODI debut in 2013 against Bangladesh. In her second match only, she scored her maiden international century against Australia. Smriti is the only Indian cricketer to be chosen in the ICC Women's Team of the Year, 2016. She was the leading run-scorer in 2018 (669 runs) with a batting average of more than 66. Her overall batting average in ODI format is more than 40 and, she has scored 2025 runs. She is also the third-fastest cricketer to score 2000 runs taking just 51 innings.
• T20I Career Mandhana's T20 career has been outstanding. She is also the youngest player to captain the team against England for three matches when she was just 22 years and 229 days old. She has scored the fastest 50 in just 24 balls against New Zealand in 2019. Smriti was named to the team for the Women's World T20 tournaments in both 2018 and 2020. Smriti scored 1000 runs in WT20I and, she is only the third Indian woman to do that.
• World Cup She is one of the few Indian cricketers to hit a century in the World Cup against the West Indies. Mandhana had an injury and, she almost missed the World Cup due to her five months recovery period. But thankfully, she recovered quickly and joined the team on time. In the first match of the World Cup 2017, she scored 90 runs against England and, she ended up becoming Woman of the Match. The whole country was cheering for her. According to Mandhana, it was one of the best moments in her life. The team qualified for the final and, Mandhana was a part of the team.

Smriti Mandhana - Awards and Achievements

Some of the awards won by Smriti are:

• ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year
• Wisden Leading Women Cricketer in the World
• Best Women's International Cricketer by BCCI, 2018
• Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award - Best Female cricketer by ICC, 2018
• ODI Player of the Year by ICC, 2018
• Arjuna Award, 2019
• International Women Cricketer of the Year by CEAT India, 2019
• Young Achievers Award by Stardust, 2017
• Navbharat Times Award, 2019

Proud of the way the girls fought back! Taking the positives and moving ahead 🇮🇳🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/aTCUMUxjzd

— Smriti Mandhana (@mandhana_smriti) March 24, 2021

Smriti Mandhana - Brand Endorsements

Smriti has a massive craze amongst the youngsters and, this makes her one of the most desirable woman players in the country. She already endorses a lot of brands and, many companies want to make her their brand ambassadors.

Some of the brands endorsed by Smritiis as follows:

• Bata
• PlayerzPot
• Vaseline
• Equitas Bank
• Oneplus

Smriti Mandhana - Fans and Following

Smriti is not very active on any of her social media accounts. She posts mainly related to her cricket practices, brand endorsements, and some family-related stuff too.

But her inactiveness on social media hasn't stopped her fans from following her. She has more than 4 million followers on Instagram and around 700 thousand followers on Twitter. She is also one of the most followed Indian Woman Cricketer of all time.

Smriti Mandhana – Young Age Talent

This young woman's journey is an inspiration to all of us. She started playing cricket at such a young age and, she has never looked back. This woman is a mixture of talent and hard work. Her consistent performance has made her one of the most preferred players in the team.

Her teammates trust her batting style and rely on her for some match-winning performances. Smriti motivates us in a lot of ways. Her calm and focused nature makes us like her even more.