When Smriti Mandhana smashed a double hundred using Rahul Dravid’s bat

Did you know? Smriti Mandhana, who is one of the biggest names in international women’s cricket today, once scored a double hundred in a U-19 tournament using Rahul Dravid’s bat.

In October 2013, Mandhana featured in the West Zone U-19 tournament. She clobbered 224 off only 150 balls against Gujarat and grabbed plenty of limelight with the smashing knock. Amazingly, the left-hander had played the knock using Dravid’s bat. The Indian head coach had gifted the bat to the cricketer’s brother Shravan.

Mandhana’s father and elder brother have played district-level cricket. Watching her brother bat led to her developing interest in the game. The India Women’s vice-captain is actually right-handed, but because her brother is a left-handed batter, she too started holding the bat with her left hand.

The cricketer has received unwavering support from her family with regard to her career choice. In fact, after 10th, she wanted to take up science, but her mother convinced her to take up commerce, so that she could get enough time to focus on cricket.

At the age of 9, she was chosen in the Maharashtra U-15 squad. By the age of 11, she was in the U-19 team. The rest is history.

Smriti Mandhana career stats

Mandhana made her international debut on April 5, 2013 against Bangladesh in a T20I match. She made her Test debut against England in 2014. The 26-year-old has so far featured in four Tests, 77 ODIs and 116 T20Is. She has scored 325 runs in Tests, 3073 runs in ODIs and 2802 in T20Is.

During the 2017 World Cup, she scored 90 against England and 106* against West Indies to make headlines. The left-hander also holds the record for the fastest T20I fifty by an Indian Women’s cricketer - 23 balls.

Speaking of red-ball cricket, she is the only female batter from the country to smash a hundred in a pink-ball Test match.

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