The swashbuckling Indian opener, Smriti Mandhana has emerged as one of the crucial co for the national squad ever since she has made her international debut. Known for her explosive batting and consistent batting record, the southpaw has proved her mettle in ODIs as well as T20Is. Having played 51 ODIs and 75 T20Is for India, Mandhana has scored runs at an average of 43.08 and 25.23 respectively.
Mandhana, in a podcast with BBC, stated that a full-fledged women’s Indian Premier League will be of tremendous help in spotting the talent which would help the national side to do well at the international stage. She said, “The BCCI has put in a lot of effort, first we had an exhibition match kind of women’s IPL two years ago then there was a very successful IPL with three teams. And this year it was supposed to be four teams.”
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Furthermore, Mandhana went on to suggest that five or six-team women’s IPL will be a crucial step in the betterment of women’s cricket in the country.
Smriti explained, “I’m sure a lot of IPL style matches will take place for a year or two. A five or six-team IPL for women will be great for Indian women’s cricket especially for the World Cups.”
According to Mandhana, there’s still a gap between the domestic and international circuit in women’s cricket. However, the southpaw is hopeful that the gap will be diminished in the upcoming 2-3 years. She was awarded the ICC’s woman’s cricketer of the year in 2019 and she also revealed an incident that involved current Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
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Mandhana elaborated, “I spoke to Virat in New Zealand last year. Both of us had got the ICC award he said ‘Your team can do something in India that the men’s team can’t. That is change the culture of women in India and that you all as the team have a big role to play in future. Whenever you feel like a gym session think that you can inspire a generation of women to take up sports.'”
