Smriti Mandhana Birthday: Why India Women star opted to become left-hand batter despite being a right-hander

Mandhana used to accompany her brother, who was a promising cricketer before leaving the sport to focus on his academics, for his net sessions. It was during those days when she first dreamt of piling up runs to get her name featured in newspapers just like her brother.

His supportive father would gently lob balls at her. Later, he started bowling from 15 yards and realised that her daughter is good at hitting balls. Smriti Mandhana’s father had a fascination for left-hand batters and that is the reason why both his kids opted to bat as left-handers.

“One day, I thought I should also be scoring runs like this,” Mandhana had once told ESPNcricinfo in an interview while explaining how she used to collect clippings of newspaper articles featuring the name of hier brother Shravan.

“My father never said no to me, so whenever my brother went for a net session, he used to lob balls at me gently. Then my father started bowling from 15 yards, and he noticed I could hit the ball well. I didn’t even know what a cover drive or square cut was. I am a right-hander otherwise, but because my father had a fascination for left-hand batsmen, my brother and I played left-handed. So that is how it started,” Mandhana had added.

At age 11, Mandhana was picked for Maharashtra Under-19s side but she had to wait for two years to get a chance in the playing eleven. When the opportunity arrived, Mandhana could not make the most of it but her parents stood right behind her and even stopped her from picking science after 10th board exams.

“I wanted to study science, but my mother dissuaded me because she knew I wouldn’t be able to balance studies and cricket then.”

The decision soon paid off as Mandhana scored three centuries and an unbeaten double-century against Gujarat Under-19s in Vadodara – in the Inter State Under-19s one-day competition. She backed those innings up with high scores in the two Under-19 limited-overs tournaments which helped her get selected for the Challenger Trophy.

Against the best bowlers in the country, Mandhana scored majestically and stood out from the rest while leading the run-charts. She soon came into national reckoning.

Mandhana even used her savings to build a concrete pitch to facilitate her batting session. All the hard work paid off when she made her debut in April 2013 in a T20I match against Bangladesh.

Cut to 2023, Mandhana is the batting mainstay of the team and one of the dreaded openers in women’s cricket. In 78 ODI matches, Mandhana has scored 3084 runs at an average of 42.83. In 119 T20I games, she has scored 2854 runs at an average of 27.44. She has also played four Test matches which has seen her score one hundred and two fifties. She regularly features in The Hundred’s women’s competition and the Big Bash League.

Mandhana is the 7th ranked ODI batter in the world. In the ICC ranking for women’s T20I batters, the Indian team vice-captain is placed third in the world. Mandhana became the costliest player in the inaugural season of Women’s Premier League (WPL) this year. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought her for Rs 3.40 crore.