It’s the right time for women’s cricket to be in limelight, asserts Smriti Mandhana

The Indian women cricket team started getting attention when they began their journey at the 2017 World Cup on a winning note. They defeated England women team by 35 runs followed by seven-wicket victory against the Windies. They then secured a convincing 95-run win over Pakistan before narrowly edging past Sri Lanka by 16 runs. Their winning streak in the tournament was stopped by South Africa women team as they handed the Women in Blue a 115-run loss before Australia hand then a second consecutive loss. After winning the next two games, India reached in the final where they faced England on July 23. In the high-intense match, the Indian women cricket team missed the chance to create history as they received a 9-run loss against the English women players but the country appreciated team's effort.

“It’s the right time for women’s cricket to be in the limelight. We did well in the World Cup. If people are watching us, it will motivate us to do better. People watching and appreciating or criticising will help our team. This is the right time for people to watch women’s cricket,” Mandhana told in an interview to bcci.tv.

“After the World Cup, we all knew that everyone’s going to watch us. Each team member has put in the hard work to get fit. Not that we didn’t work hard earlier but now we know that people are going to watch us. Everyone is working hard. I have worked hard on my fitness and batting. I am happy with it and hopefully will continue in the same form throughout the year.”

Mandhana scored 90 and an unbeaten century to ensure India’s good start in the World Cup campaign but she failed to continue that form in the rest of the series as she scored 2, 8, 4, 3, 13, 6, 0. She picked up an ACL injury in the Women’s Big Bash League and had to go through a surgery and rehabilitation post that. She was part of the India squad which toured South Africa and where she scored 84 and 135 in the first two ODIs which helped the side in winning the series.

“It was a good learning experience for me playing in South Africa for the first time. Started off really well with an 84 and a century. The third match I didn’t score well. That’s something I can look back... When I am scoring runs, I should make all the matches count. Even in T20s I have got good starts but haven’t converted it. So these things I have to work on.

“When we got off after the World Cup, I had to change a bit of my technique and get into open stance because a lot of coaches told me that I am more of an off-side player and told me to watch the ball with both eyes. Because I used to watch with one-and-a-half eyes because of my closed stance. So, I went back to Sangli [her hometown], worked with my coach and tried to come into open stance and it really helped me. That suited my batting. I continued with it and it gave me results,” she added.

When asked if she had a favorite shot, Mandana didn't give it a moment's thought and replied, “As a batsman, you always love playing cover drive. That’s the thing for me also. I just used to play cover drives as a kid. I’d play 200, 300 cover drives. I didn’t like any other shots. But later on, I had to develop all the other shots.”