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
📹: Oaktree Sports
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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.