Mandhana has played just a couple of Tests for India. © Getty
Smriti Mandhana's rise to the very top in women's cricket was always on the cards. Even her parents saw it coming from a distance. Yet, her father was left wondering how his young daughter - who by her own admission is a fidgety player, and carries a reputation of being an aggressive batter - would fit into the longest format of the game.
In the chilly weather at Wormsley in August 2014, Mandhana made her Test debut at the age of 18 and came away with a second-innings half-century. More importantly, she batted for more than two hours and faced 108 deliveries to get there in what turned out to be a memorable away victory. Leading up to that game, her father raised pertinent doubts.
"I love the feeling of playing Test cricket. I have just played two Test matches. My dad wondered how I'll play a Test match. 'You have to leave the ball in that.' Like literally, he was asking 'how do you leave a ball," Mandhana told Cricbuzz in the latest episode of Spicy Pitch.
Mandhana knew her father's fears weren't incorrect. For a free-scoring opener like her, the idea of grinding out session after session was an alien concept - which she sorted out with niche training in the nets.
"I had actually practiced how to leave a ball before going to that Test match. So I had actually put a stump on the fourth stump mark and I told the coach to throw it to the side. And I was just trying to leave the ball. Because I've never done that," she revealed.
But simulation in the nets can only take you so far with preparation. And Mandhana learned it the hard way. "I went, like that, to bat, and I'm used to a normal field. Over there, three slips, one gully and all that. I was like, 'There's a gap here, and there!'. I could see so many big gaps around. So I was loving playing Test cricket more. And that feel, of having a short leg, three slips, white clothes with like, that English wicket, grassy wicket... batting with the team... getting the team out of that situation. All those things, I love it," she said.
Smriti's best knock, according to her, though came in completely contrasting conditions - on a raging turner in Nagpur. In an ODI in April 2018, India were in trouble while having to chase England's 207. Mandhana watched helplessly from one end as the top-order crumbled and the middle-order wobbled in the face of left-arm spin from Sophie Ecclestone and right arm off-break from Danielle Hazell. Mandhana fought on, stitched short partnerships along the way and did enough for India to eke out a one-wicket victory.
"I know I have centuries and all, but this knock was really special because, as I said, I have this game - a free-flowing game. But the wicket was a turner. The ball was jumping all over the place. And we batted second, so the wicket had deteriorated. And especially, as a leftie, you get a lot of foot marks from over-the-wicket bowlers. So I was really under stress that I need to play a very different kind of a role and I've to defend a lot of balls.
"I got out for 86 but I actually got a standing ovation. Jhulu Di actually came up to me and said, 'I know that you have mostly aggressive knocks but this knock has been your best knock till now."
For more such stories from Smriti Mandhana, and her family, watch the full episode of Spicy Pitch here.
Smriti Mandhana's rise to the very top in women's cricket was always on the cards. Even her parents saw it coming from a distance. Yet, her father was left wondering how his young daughter - who by her own admission is a fidgety player, and carries a reputation of being an aggressive batter - would fit into the longest format of the game.
In the chilly weather at Wormsley in August 2014, Mandhana made her Test debut at the age of 18 and came away with a second-innings half-century. More importantly, she batted for more than two hours and faced 108 deliveries to get there in what turned out to be a memorable away victory. Leading up to that game, her father raised pertinent doubts.
"I love the feeling of playing Test cricket. I have just played two Test matches. My dad wondered how I'll play a Test match. 'You have to leave the ball in that.' Like literally, he was asking 'how do you leave a ball," Mandhana told Cricbuzz in the latest episode of Spicy Pitch.
Mandhana knew her father's fears weren't incorrect. For a free-scoring opener like her, the idea of grinding out session after session was an alien concept - which she sorted out with niche training in the nets.
"I had actually practiced how to leave a ball before going to that Test match. So I had actually put a stump on the fourth stump mark and I told the coach to throw it to the side. And I was just trying to leave the ball. Because I've never done that," she revealed.
But simulation in the nets can only take you so far with preparation. And Mandhana learned it the hard way. "I went, like that, to bat, and I'm used to a normal field. Over there, three slips, one gully and all that. I was like, 'There's a gap here, and there!'. I could see so many big gaps around. So I was loving playing Test cricket more. And that feel, of having a short leg, three slips, white clothes with like, that English wicket, grassy wicket... batting with the team... getting the team out of that situation. All those things, I love it," she said.
Smriti's best knock, according to her, though came in completely contrasting conditions - on a raging turner in Nagpur. In an ODI in April 2018, India were in trouble while having to chase England's 207. Mandhana watched helplessly from one end as the top-order crumbled and the middle-order wobbled in the face of left-arm spin from Sophie Ecclestone and right arm off-break from Danielle Hazell. Mandhana fought on, stitched short partnerships along the way and did enough for India to eke out a one-wicket victory.
"I know I have centuries and all, but this knock was really special because, as I said, I have this game - a free-flowing game. But the wicket was a turner. The ball was jumping all over the place. And we batted second, so the wicket had deteriorated. And especially, as a leftie, you get a lot of foot marks from over-the-wicket bowlers. So I was really under stress that I need to play a very different kind of a role and I've to defend a lot of balls.
"I got out for 86 but I actually got a standing ovation. Jhulu Di actually came up to me and said, 'I know that you have mostly aggressive knocks but this knock has been your best knock till now."
For more such stories from Smriti Mandhana, and her family, watch the full episode of Spicy Pitch here.