Edited By: Aditya Maheshwari
Last Updated: January 13, 2023, 5:22 PM IST
Smriti Mandhana has been in superb form across formats. (AFP Photo)
Jhulan recalled an incident from 2014 during a series between India and Sri Lanka when the veteran pacer was sharing a room with young Mandhana.
Smriti Mandhana opened up on his sheer love for batting as her former teammate and legendary bowler Jhulan Goswami also recalled an anecdote regarding the young southpaw during his initial days of international cricket. Mandhana made his international debut for India in 2013 against Bangladesh and became a mainstay across all formats and has been one of the promising batters in recent times. She is the only Indian cricketer to win the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award twice and was also nominated for the third time in 2022.
During an interview with Forbes, Jhulan recalled an incident from 2014 during a series between India and Sri Lanka when the veteran pacer was sharing a room with young Mandhana.
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“It came from Smriti [Mandhana]who I was sharing the room with,” says Goswami. “She had woken up and was shadow-batting in the room.”
Jhulan said that she was quite impressed with Mandhana’s dedication on off day
“In fact, I was really impressed to see a young girl following a routine even on an off day without being prodded by seniors, It goes to show how sincere and committed Smriti was to her craft even in her early days.”
While young Mandhana also reacted to his former teammate’s comments and said that the legendary pacer is ruining his image as she wants to create a cool image of herself.
“Jhulu-di mera image kharab kar rahi hai. Here I am trying to build a chill image of a happy-go-lucky cricketer, and there she’s spilling the beans,” Mandhana told Forbes.
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However, the southpaw also talked about his live for batting.
“But yes,” she laughs, “batting toh pyaar hai (batting is sheer love). I can even wake up at 2 am and start batting,” she added.
Mandhana’s most exciting innings of 2022 came in the second T20 of the bilateral series against Australia in December.
In front of over 47,000 spectators – the highest turnout for a women’s cricket match in India – at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai, Mandhana smacked a 49-ball 79 while chasing Australia’s 187/1.
She was India’s top-scorer in the match, taking the match to the very end as India set up a super over clash after levelling the scores at 187/5.
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