Smriti Mandhana in motion through the ultimate cricket match in opposition to Sri Lanka on the Asian Video games in Japan.
| Photograph Credit score: R.V. Moorthy
The queen of batting is all set for a brand new reign.
Smriti Mandhana, essentially the most prolific batter in ladies’s cricket, has taken over the captaincy of the Indian workforce from Harmanpreet Kaur. She wasn’t simply the plain alternative; she was the one alternative.
She instructions respect from her teammates. And he or she is essentially the most skilled participant within the workforce after Harmanpreet.
The 30-year-old just isn’t new to the management position, both. She has stepped in when Harmanpreet wasn’t accessible on a couple of events. She has additionally led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 2 WPL titles. The primary of these titles, in 2024, introduced an finish to the agonisingly lengthy await a trophy for the Bengaluru-based franchise, whose males’s workforce used to falter after promising a lot, season after season.
Smriti has a chance to finish a title drought for the Girls in Blue, too. They’ve by no means received the T20 World Cup. They didn’t even make it to the knockout stage within the final editions.
Strengthening the Indian workforce for the shortest format ought to be her precedence. India is great in ODIs; the World Cup victory final yr underlined that reality.
The Indians are fairly good within the longest format, too, although ladies get to play Take a look at matches solely as soon as in a blue moon. They have been ruthless in opposition to England within the historic Take a look at at Lord’s not too long ago. However, there may be work to be carried out of their T20 aspect.
They’ve struggled in opposition to stronger groups like Australia and South Africa. They should deal with the problem of batting firepower within the middle-order, as an alternative of leaving the whole lot to Richa Ghosh. They’ve to search out, and develop, some high quality all-rounders. Smriti, and the workforce administration, should deal with these points properly in time for the following T20 World Cup in 2028.
Together with privilege, captaincy additionally brings in added strain. Given her present, ambition and fearlessness, it’s unlikely to have an effect on Smriti’s batting. Who is aware of, it could assist, even.
Revealed – October 07, 2026 06:05 pm IST
