Coach WV Raman helping me improve my temperament, reveals Smriti Mandhana
Smriti Mandhana claims that new India women’s cricket team coach WV Raman has helped improve her mindset while batting at the crease which also improved her performances of late. Mandhana has added that despite her impressive run tally this season, the team does not depend on her to score runs.
Smriti Mandhana has emerged as one of the brightest prospects in women’s cricket over the last year or so. She was recently adjudged as ICC Women’s cricketer of the year for 2018 and impressed on the New Zealand tour which saw India win the ODI series against the Kiwis. Mandhana, still aged just 22, has scored a total of 1798 runs in 47 ODI matches for India. She has seen a recent boost in performance after the appointment of WV Raman as the new head coach of the women’s team after BCCI opted to let Ramesh Powar vacate the post.
The left-handed batter recently said in an interview that Raman has set her targets to bat for a specific number of overs to develop her patience at the crease.
"He (Raman) has been telling me to play 30 overs in ODIs as he knows that if I bat till 30 overs, I will continue to bat. And in 20 over
Mandhana was influential in India’s crucial series win in the One-day format against New Zealand a few weeks ago. She scored 196 runs from three matches which included two centuries in the first and second game to help the visitors claim a 2-1 victory against the home team. However, the girl from Mumbai insists that she is not the only player capable of scoring the big runs in the Indian team.
"No, I don't think so. We have got a lot of match-winners in our team. It is just that sometimes someone goes through a lean patch and you need to cover up for your teammate. And sometimes that would be the case, if I am not going, the middle order will look after me (help me).
"So you can't say that they (other batswomen) are too dependent, but I think the main responsibility as a batter is to win matches and dependence never comes (in the way)," Mandhana added.
Cricket FootBall Kabaddi
Basketball Hockey
SportsCafe