ICC Women's WT20 | WV Raman is behind India's T20 transformation, admits Smriti Mandhana

Senior India player Smriti Mandhana was left utterly disappointed and heartbroken after her team copped an 85-run mauling to Australia in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final on Sunday. Unbeaten throughout the tournament, India were outplayed in all departments of the game by the defending champions, who clinched their fifth world title in the shortest format. 

A sluggish start with the ball and in the field undermined India's attempts to overhaul the defending champions in their own backyard with the support of an 86,174 crowd at the iconic MCG. Mandhana believed India are a transformed team in the shortest format, and she attributed it to head coach WV Raman. Also, the southpaw has picked up positives from the defeat saying Indian women have started to progress equally in all three formats.

“T20 was never our best format, one-day was definitely the preferred format. Now we're playing each format equally well. That is one thing the coach has helped us with and we've developed massively,” said Smriti Mandhana as quoted by Times of India.

“The youngsters coming in have totally changed the set-up and the best part of the tournament was it was a complete team performance. That's one thing Raman has done -- developing us as a team not just one or two players. Today, it didn't work out but we've grown as a team, not just as one or two players,” she added.

Mandhana's had a disappointing T20 World Cup that saw her manage a top score of 17 in four innings. Team India desperately wanted the left-hander to fire, unfortunately, the team capitulated to 99 all out in the final.