Smriti Mandhana Biography: Birth, Age, Education, Family, Cricket Career, Net Worth, And More

Smriti Mandhana Biography: Smriti Mandhana became the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2021 for the second time in her cricket career, thereby winning the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy. She is the second Indian woman after veteran cricketer Jhulan Goswami to win an annual ICC award.

Her stellar performance across all formats of Cricket in 2021 led her to the win. She is second only to Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry to bag the highest individual honour in the women's overall category of the annual ICC awards more than once.

Speaking on the occasion, Mandhana said, "I am truly honoured for receiving the prestigious Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2021. I am grateful to my teammates, my coaches, my family, friends and fans who believed in my potential and supported me in this journey."

"A recognition of such high class from the global governing body of cricket in an exceptional and difficult year will motivate me to continue to better my game and contribute to Team India's success going forward. I look forward to 2022 with a clear focus on winning the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand as we continue to prepare as a team and unit," she added. 

The T20 Vice Captain was also nominated for the Women's T20I Player of the Year 2021 award. The award has been won by England opener Tammy Beaumont. 

Smriti Mandhana Biography

Smriti Mandhana: Birth, Age, Education, and Family

Smriti Mandhana was born on 18 July 1996 in Mumbai to Smita Mandhana and Shrinivas Mandhana in a Marwari family. Two years after her birth, the family moved to Madhavnagar, Sangli in Maharashtra where she completed her formal education. 

The 25-year-old drew inspiration to take up cricket after she watched her brother Shravan Mandhana playing the sport at the Maharashtra state Under-16s tournaments. Her father too played the sport at the district level for Sangli. 

Smriti made it to the Under-15 team of Maharashtra at the age of nine, and the state's Under-19 team at the age of eleven. Her father takes care of her cricket programme while her mother looks after her diet, clothing and other organisational aspects. Her brother Shravan still bowls to her in the nets.

Smriti Mandhana Cricket Career

Smriti made her Test debut on 13 August 2014 against England, ODI debut on 10 April 2013 against Bangladesh, and T20I debut on 5 April 2013 against Bangladesh. 

Domestic Cricket Career

Her major breakthrough in her cricket career came in 2013 when she became the first Indian woman to achieve a double-hundred in a one-day game. She scored an unbeaten 224 runs off just 150 balls in the West Zone Under-19 Tournament, at the Alembic Cricket Ground in Vadodara.

She scored a total of 192 runs in the 2016 Women's Challenger Trophy and emerged as its top scorer. In September 2016, she was signed for a year alongside Harmanpreet Kaur with Brisbane Heat for the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL). 

She became the first Indian to play in the Kia Super League in June 2018. The same year, she was named in the Hobart Hurricanes' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season. For the 2021-22 Women's Big Bash League season, she was named in the Sydney Thunder squad and equalled 114 not out records of WBBL. 

International Cricket Career

In her Test debut match against England in 2014, Smriti Mandhana helped her team to win the match. She hit her maiden International hundred in the second ODI game of India's tour of Australia in 2016. She scored 102 runs off 109 balls, but in a losing cause. She was the only Indian player in the ICC Women's Team of the Year 2016.

Mandhana was part of the Indian squad to reach the final of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup where the team lost to England by nine runs.

In February 2018, she scored the fastest fifty for India in Women's T20Is off 24 balls against New Zealand. The following month, she was the player of the series for the three WODI matches played in England. 

During the Women's World Twenty20 tournament held in the West Indies, Mandhana became the third Indian cricketer to score 1,000 runs in WT20I matches. She was the leading run-scorer in WODIs with 669 runs and was adjudged the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Year.

In February 2019, she was named as the captain of India's Women T20I squad for the three-match against England and became the youngest T20I captain for India. 

She has won the International Woman Cricketer of the Year awards at CEAT International Cricket Awards 2019 and became the third-fastest cricketer, in terms of innings, to score 2,000 runs in WODIs, doing so in her 51st innings. The record was made during the series against West Indies. She became the first Indian female cricketer to score a century in both ODIs and Tests in Australia.

International Centuries

Test centuries

One Day International centuries

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