Indian women’s cricketer Smriti Mandhana is developing her batting skills regularly and becoming more dangerous. She has recently added the power-hitting skills that led her to the recent success.
In the recently concluded 2018 Women’s Cricket Super League (2018 KIA Super League), Western Storm opener Mandhana finished as the leading run-scorer in the tournament by scoring 421 runs in 9 innings with the average of 60.14, including one century and two half-centuries.
Talking about her improving batting skills, Mandhana has claimed that she has developed her power-hitting skills.
The 22-year-old left-handed opening batter told CricketNext, “Earlier I didn’t have that power to clear the rope. I used to deal a lot in boundaries than in sixes. Playing the lofted shots straight over the bowler’s head was not really my strength. I am lucky that my coach is an allrounder. He can bowl offspin, legspin and pace. We had two to three buckets, and in each there were 25 to 30 balls. Each bucket was for a certain delivery. So, I used to play at least 60 balls of lofted shots every day in Sangli (her hometown). Doing something regularly for a period of eight months helps. I got the confidence to execute those shots in matches.”
While Mandhana had a disappointing experience during her Brisbane Heat tenure in 2016/17 WBBL, where she suffered a major knee injury and underwent for a surgery, this time she got the best experience. Speaking about the difference between her stints in 2016/17 WBBL and latest KIA Super League, Mandhana claimed the team bonding.
She said, “I didn’t speak much to my teammates in WBBL. I learnt that you cannot always wait for people to come to talk to you. Also, in Australia we stayed separately in apartments and many of them used to go back to their homes. That used to depress me. This time I was relaxed and made the first move to speak to people. We were all staying together for a month, which helped us bond well.”
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Talking about what pleased her in the recently concluded KIA Super League, Mandhana spoke about the game against Lancashire Thunder where she scored a match-winning century. However, rather than enjoying to scoring a century in that game, she more enjoyed playing a long innings that almost secured a victory for her team to chasing the target of 154 runs as she was dismissed when her team Western Storm was just two runs away from the victory.
Mandhana said on that, “I have been throwing my wicket away when we need 40-50 runs, or when we are in 120s while batting first. So, to be able to almost bat through in that match made me really happy. If as a settled batter I get out midway then it is hard for new batters to score straightaway when the required run-rate is eight or nine. I was really pleased that I was able to do something that I had been thinking of doing for a long time.”
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While some have claimed that Mandhana has achieved her success in the 2018 KIA Super League due to getting the support from the strong batting line-up, she has denied the fact.
Speaking on this, Mandhana said, “In the T20I tri-series in Mumbai this year I had a strike-rate of 165. It’s not about the batting line-up. Maybe it was the pitches and sometimes when you bat well in the nets, it makes you feel good. That really helps you go after the bowlers.”
However, Mandhana is not getting overconfident with this success as she believes that the great form in Kia Super League doesn’t guarantee her success in the upcoming 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 that will be hosted by West Indies from November 9 to 24.
Mandhana said, “Every tournament is new and has its own challenges. In fact, even when you score a hundred in one match, you are not carrying anything into the next match because it’s going to be different conditions and you will be facing different bowlers. Obviously, KSL will give the confidence that I can bat with a certain strike-rate when we are chasing 180-plus scores. I can now back myself to help the team get to the target, but beyond that KSL and World T20 are two different challenges. Sometimes confidence can turn into overconfidence, so it’s better to start every tournament new.”
