Im really tough on myself: Smriti Mandhana after India go 40 up vs Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana feels that dwelling on past success will not help the team win future World Cups and believes there is significant room for improvement as India prepare for next year’s T20 World Cup.

Mandhana returned to form with a prolific innings in the fourth T20I against Sri Lanka in Trivandrum on Sunday, after modest returns in the first three matches. She struck a fluent 80 off 48 balls, reaching the landmark of 10,000 international runs in the process. The feat made her the fastest woman cricketer to get there and only the fourth overall, alongside Charlotte Edwards, Mithali Raj and Suzie Bates.

“In cricket, you have to start from zero. The scoreboard is always zero for zero. Its never what youve done in the last match or previous series as well. Internal expectations for me in all three formats are very different. Of course, T20 is slightly in a way where you cant be extremely hard on yourself after getting out because youre playing at a pace where there are days when itll come off.

“There are days when it wont. Im really tough on myself with one-day cricket and test cricket because, of course, you have a lot of time. If you get out there, it feels like a sin for me. But there are days when you win the match for the country, but there are days when you wont be able to get runs. But you have to take both things at your stride because you cant overthink. Its just quick turnover,” Mandhana said in a video shared by the BCCI.

She described the current squad as a work in progress and cautioned against focusing too much on the recent ODI World Cup triumph, saying it would not aid preparations for the next global event.

“Like, if I had thought a lot about the first three matches, we only had one day before this one. So its about just prepping your mind around how you want to go about your cricket. The One Day World Cup was the biggest thing for womens cricket. And we did take off that one. So its a big, big win. But again, you know, you cant be thinking about only successes.

“Weve had times when we could have won matches, but we couldnt this year. And again, this team being this young, we are always a work in progress. Theres going to be a World Cup, but its a work in progress. If you keep thinking about the World Cup, the next one wont come. If I had to review it more critically, I would give it 7 out of 10. We have many areas to improve as a team,” she added.

Mandhana also expressed gratitude to the fans for their unwavering support during the ODI World Cup and beyond, and hoped the team could continue to make them proud.

“We keep talking about it in terms of where we want to see ourselves fitness-wise, feeling-wise, and running-wise. And then, of course, power hitting now with T20s. So yeah, I mean, all in those things, execution of bowling plans. I had spoken about bowlers.

“But I feel as an Indian team, all the fans whove supported us throughout the year, especially the One Day World Cup and post that kind of support weve got, I feel, I mean, its just been a fantastic year for womens cricket. And I hope we just keep making them proud, and I hope they keep turning up and support us,” she concluded.

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