How Smriti Mandhana found her swing

Brut India

Smriti Mandhana just led the RCB to victory in Women's Premiere League 2024. In this 2018 interview, she shared how she picked her batting position.  📹: Oaktree Sports

Transcript

00:00When I was 11 years old, I had to fill up a form in Maharashtra.

00:04Name, age, middle order, opening...

00:08I didn't know anything.

00:10I didn't know what an opening, middle order was.

00:12I only knew how to hold a bat and bat.

00:15So I called my dad and asked him what I should fill up.

00:18Opening, middle order, lower order.

00:20Dad said, fill it up. That's opening. What is it?

00:22So I became an opening batsman.

00:24When I was 11 years old, I had to fill up a form in Maharashtra.

00:30Name, age, middle order, opening...

00:32I didn't know how to fill up a form in Maharashtra.

00:34So I became an open batsman.

00:37Then I finished my studies and sought an opening bat.

00:39So I completed my studies.

00:41That isn't a thing in Maharashtra.

00:43There is no such thing.

00:44So I completed my studies and started playing football.

00:46Then I got an offer from National Football League and started playing.

00:50When I was 11 years old, I got an offer from National Football League.

00:53So I called my dad and asked him what should I fill in the form?

00:58Opening, middle order, lower order?

01:00Dad said, fill it, what's opening?

01:02So I became an opening batsman.

01:04We always used to say the same thing in the dressing room

01:06that girls' one world cup will change the way people look at women's cricket.

01:10We just want to win a good world cup.

01:14In India, especially when women's cricket used to be popular,

01:17it used to come out as Metalli or Jhulandi.

01:20So apart from these two, I didn't make names for any other 15 girls.

01:24But this time, I think it was a very good feeling.

01:26Everyone was telling me by name,

01:28Deepthi Sharma should have put it like this,

01:30or Harman played that knock.

01:32It was a good feeling.

01:34I watch MasterChef Australia a lot.

01:36Me too!

01:37I'm a big, big fan of cooking.

01:40If mom used to make anything,

01:42I watched a lot of MasterChef Australia.

01:46So mom used to make something like this.

01:48If there was roti, I used to smell it.

01:50So mom used to tell me to eat it quietly.

01:55Why did you open the cricket academy?

01:56You should have opened a restaurant.

01:58There is a restaurant.

02:00Of course, I want to open it.

02:01That was like a big dream.

02:03What is the story of Rahul Dravid's bat?

02:06So Rahul Dravid gave a signed bat to Shravan.

02:10So he met Rahul sir.

02:13And he asked him if he could give him a bat.

02:17So he gave it to him.

02:18He signed it and took it in my name.

02:20He is also very sweet.

02:21He took it in my name.

02:22So I was just going to keep it in showpiece kind of.

02:24That yes, give me this signed bat.

02:26As soon as I picked it up,

02:27he said, this bat has a very good balance.

02:29I started playing with it.

02:31So you played with it?

02:32Yeah, I played with it.

02:33I scored, I think.

02:34Double century which I scored.

02:35Oh!

02:36This is Rahul's bat?

02:37Yeah, yeah.

02:38I don't have that bat only.

02:39So what's this?

02:40So just one question.

02:41Was it Rahul's bat or was it Shravan's bat that Rahul signed?

02:44No, no.

02:45It was Rahul sir's bat only.

02:46Oh!

02:47Yeah, yeah.

02:48It was his bat only.

02:49But when we are talking about mental conditioning,

02:52you can't have a better bat than that to score 200.

02:55I think I have had that bat repaired four times.

02:58I had four or five more bats.

03:00But that same bat,

03:01I repaired it and played with it a lot.

03:03Later, finally, my dad said,

03:05son, stop it now.

03:06Keep that bat.

03:07I mean, leave it.

03:08So even now, I have kept it in a showpiece.

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