5 facts about ICC Women's Cricketer 2021 Smriti Mandhana you need to know

Indian women's cricket is growing in leaps and bounds. Indian woman cricketer Smriti Mandhana, opening batter and tipped to be the next Indian women cricket team captain, has bagged the ICC ‘Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award’ for 2021. Simply put Smriti Mandhana is the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year for 2021.

Mandhana triumphed over England’s Tammy Beaumont, South Africa’s Lizelle Lee and Ireland’s Gaby Lewis to win the prestigious ICC award.

A year to remember ? Smriti Mandhana's quality at the top of the order was on full display in 2021 ? More on her exploits ? https://t.co/QI8Blxf0O5 pic.twitter.com/3jRjuzIxiT

— ICC (@ICC) January 24, 2022

This is also not the first time she has been bestowed with the honour. After her smashing international career in 2018, when she scored 669 runs in ODI at an average of 66.90, she had won the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year award. She was also then the third highest run getter in T20s with 622 runs at a strike rate of 130.67.

Mandhana is second to Australia’s all-rounder Ellyse Perry to win the highest individual distinction from ICC in the overall women's category. She is also the second Indian woman cricketer to win an ICC annual award after Jhulan Goswami.

Here is a quick brief on her journey in cricket so far:

1. INSPIRATION TO PLAY CRICKET FROM BROTHER

Born on July 18, 1996, Smriti Mandhana, 25, hails from the Madhavnagar town of Sangli district of Maharashtra. She moved to Mumbai at the age of 2 and completed her schooling from the city. She drew inspiration to play cricket from her brother Shravan, who played for the Maharashtra Under-16 team. 

At the age of 9, Smriti Mandhana was selected for the Under-16 team and by 11, she was selected to play for the Maharashtra Under-19 team.

Her family was always supportive of her ambitions. Her father Shrinivas, a chemical distributor, takes care of her cricket programmes. Her mother Smita takes care of her diet, clothing and other organisational stuff. Shravan still bowls to her in the net.

2. ASTONISHING DOMESTIC START

Mandhana’s cricketing career grew manifold when she achieved milestones in domestic cricket. In October 2013, she made her first breakthrough when she became the first Indian woman to achieve a double hundred in a one-day game. She was playing for Maharashtra against Gujarat and she scored 225 off 150 in the West Zone Under-19 tournament at Alembic Cricket Ground in Vadodara, Gujarat.

In 2016, playing for India Red at Women Challenger Trophy, Mandhana played a crucial knock of 62 off 82 balls in the final against India and led the team to lift the trophy. In all, she scored three half centuries in the tournament, a total of 192 runs, emerging as the tournament’s top scorer.

3. GLORIOUS INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Mandhana is a left hand batter and right arm break bowler. She made her international cricketing debut in August 2014 against England at Wormsley Park. In her first match, she helped the team seal the victory by scoring 22 and 51 runs in the first and second innings respectively.

She is also the only Indian player to be selected in the ICC Women’s Team of the Year in 2016. In 2018, she was named in the Indian squad for the World T-20 tournament in West Indies. In the same year, she was also named as the Star of the team. During the World Cup in the West Indies, she was the first cricketer to score 1,000 runs in WT20i matches.

The same year, she was crowned the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year.

In August 2019, Mandhana won the International Women’s Cricketer of the Year at CEAT International Cricket Awards.

In 2021, Mandhana scored a total of 855 runs in 22 international matches, clocking an average of 38.86 with one century and five half centuries. In August 2021, she was also the first female cricketer to score a century in both ODIs and Tests in Australia.

In January 2022, she was named to the India team for Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.

4. INDIA’S NEXT CAPTAIN AFTER MITHALI RAJ

Former woman cricketer and current BCCI Apex Council member, Shantha Rangaswamy said that she won't be surprised if Smriti Mandhana becomes the captain in all the formats once Mithali Raj retires. She said that like Mithali, Mandhana is an ideal player who would carry the team well.

In December 2021 too, speaking to PTI, Rangaswamay said that Mandhana is the ideal choice for the captain as she has been an excellent performer for India. She should be given the opportunity to lead the country, said Rangaswamy.

Smriti Mandhana is expected to become the next skipper of the Indian women's cricket team, after ODI and test captain Mithali Raj’s retirement. Raj is expected to retire after the conclusion of the Women's Cricket World Cup this year in New Zealand.

At present, Harmanpreet Kaur is the T-20 captain since 2016, but her inconsistent form as a batter doesn’t make her an ideal choice to lead the longer formats.

5. AWARD A SILVER LINING

On her achievement as ICC Women's Cricketer of the year, Shantha Rangaswamy speaking to the Times of India, said that Mandhana deserves this honour. She said that at a time when the Indian men’s team isn’t doing well, this award certainly comes as a silver lining in her career.

She applauded Mandhana's batting, saying that the left arm batter was excellent on Australian pitches. Rangaswamy added that Mandhana is slowly getting into the mould of Mithali Raj and she will make an ideal captain for the team.