I play cricket to inspire a lot more girls – Smriti Mandhana

Last night in Dubai, Smriti Mandhana smashed records left, right and center. Going strong, Mandhana surpassed her former teammate, Mithali Raj to become the leading run-scorer in women’s cricket while also becoming the leading centurion in women’s international cricket across all formats of the sport.

Talking in a video released by BCCI, titled Scaling new heights, Mandhana opened up about what Mithali Raj means to her. She also highlighted her training regime has been and how she has been working on very special areas.

Reflecting on the legend of Mithali Raj, Mandhana said, “We’ve all grown up watching Mithali di bat. She’s been an idol for everyone growing up. I, never in my dreams, that I would get 10000 runs and go past her. It’s a good thing but again I am just 30 and there’s so many years left in me.”

Reflecting on her own journey, Mandhana added, “I wouldn’t say that you are ever complete as a batter or a bowler and if you feel that way, cricket will always show you, that you are not. I feel that there’s so much more to improve. I have been constantly trying to improve my six hitting abilities, in terms of able to clear the long-on and long-off fielder or have the confidence to do that.”

She concluded the video with a very special message for the youngsters watching the game and how she wanted to influence them.

Smriti stated, “You always pick up the bat and play cricket to inspire a lot more girls to want to play cricket for India, serve the nation, be the best they can be, the best version of them. If anything of mine could inspire even like 10% girls to pick up bat and ball and start playing cricket, I feel that would be something which I will always be proud and happy about.”