ICC Women's World Cup 2017: What exactly is wrong with Smriti Mandhana?

After promising much in the opening two games, Smriti Mandhana’s form of late has left lot to be desired

Smriti Mandhana became a national sensation after she produced two back-to-back impressive innings to begin the ICC Women’s World Cup. In the first match against England, the 20-year-old batswoman scored 90 runs to anchor India’s innings while her hundred in the next game against West Indies steered India home in a tricky chase.

These 196 runs in two innings were enough to make Mandhana a sensation back home in India but just when the left hander was expected to reach newer heights in this World Cup, her performance dipped. Currently, the opener is experiencing a severe drought of runs.

In the last five innings, she has accumulated only 30 runs and in four of these innings, she wasn’t even able to reach double figures.

This sudden dip in form is highly surprising as well as disappointing and hence demands thorough inspection.

Mandhana scored heavily in the first two games but since then has become silent

In the last five innings, Mandhana has lost her wicket thrice to deliveries that came in. One was edged to the wicket-keeper, one struck her pads when she was right in front of the stumps and the third one was played straight into the hands of short mid wicket.

In the last match against New Zealand, she tried to do something creative by moving her front leg towards the leg side and ended up losing her off stump while against South Africa, she pulled a short delivery to perfection but failed to clear the deep square leg fielder.

These dismissals reflect her woes against the balls that come in towards her. While facing such deliveries she loses her balance and ends up either missing the ball or edging it.

The reason behind her debacles against the incoming balls lies in her trigger movement.

Mandhana has a perfectly stable stance but when the ball is released from the bowler's hand, her front leg moves slightly forward, not straight but in the direction of mid-off. It is not a massive stride, it is just a tentative push that moves her body forward. This initial body movement allows her to play the balls that move away from her with ease as her body weight gets transferred on the front foot without any trouble.

However, when the ball comes in, this weight transfer prevents Mandhana from staying stable and thus she loses her balance.

To play the incoming deliveries with perfection, Mandhana must stay stable until the last moment and cannot afford to plant her front leg across. The last few innings have indicated that the Indian opener has already started working in this area. Although the technical flaws have still not been completed eliminated the improvement is evident.

However, more than her technical flaws, her mental approach has brought her downfall in the last couple of games. The pressure of her recent failures is clearly seen in her batting and she looks anything but composed at the crease. 

Recent failures have affected Mandhana’s approach resulting in more worries

The left-hander is generally a slow starter and is known to put her feet on the accelerator only when she is confident about the conditions and her batting rhythm. However, in the last two innings, she looked desperate to score runs and was trying to play her shots from the word go.

Against New Zealand, she was constantly trying to come down the track against the off-spinner, and even while playing from the back-foot she was focusing on punching the ball hard. These efforts didn’t yield much success and eventually, Mandhana pushed herself deep in the rut and fell for 13 runs.  

This desperate aggression is preventing the 20-year-old player from settling herself at the crease. All her big knocks featured slow yet steady starts. For Mandhana, the only way to end this bad patch is to play her natural game which is to wait for the right ball to play the strokes. 

India’s next game is a knock-out match against Australia – a side which has been both consistent as well as accurate with their bowling. The Aussie bowling attack will surely test India’s batting skills and hence the Women in Blue cannot afford to have an unconfident and vulnerable Mandhana facing these bowlers.   

Along with working on her technical flaws, the opener must focus on channelling her mental strength in the right direction. This is when the help of the coach and supporting staff is required. The Indian coach has the responsibility of liberating Mandhana’s mind from the burden of failures.

Mithali Raj, the Indian skipper can also pump confidence in the youngster as she would be nervous about playing the big game. It doesn’t have to be a lengthy motivational lecture; it can be a casual talk while walking in the nets or a light discussion face to face.

There are numerous ways of rebuilding Mandhana’s confidence but will she and the Indian team management be able to do it before the match against Australia will be important to see.