Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana is an Indian cricketer who plays for the Indian women's national team and was born on July 18 1996 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. She is a left-handed opening batter, who can also ball part-time at a right-arm medium pace as well. In June 2018, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named her as the Best Women's International Cricketer of the Year. She also received the honorable 'Arjuna Award’ in 2019.

Smriti Mandhana Along the years

Smriti Mandhana Records

• 2nd Most Fifties in Women's T20Is (22)

• 3rd Most Nineties in Women's ODIs (4)

• 6th Most Hundreds in Women's ODI series (2)

• 5th player for the most consecutive innings without a duck in Women's T20Is (62)

• 4th Highest partnership for the first wicket in Tests (167)

• Highest runs by her in a calendar year in ODIs (696)

• 5th Fewest Ducks in Women's ODIs (38.5)

• 3rd Highest partnership for the fourth wicket in Women's ODIs (184)

• 6th Most Runs in Women's T20Is (2802)

• 7th Most Runs in a calendar year in Women's T20Is (622)

• 9th Fastest to 2000 runs in Women's T20Is (84)

• Fastest fifty by Indian women's batter in T20Is (23 balls)

Smriti Mandhana Awards and Accolades

• ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2018

• Best Women's International Cricketer Award by BCCI in 2018

• Recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2019 by the Government of India

• Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy (ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2021)

• Sportstar ACES Awards 2020 - Sportswoman of the Year

• Named in ICC's 2022 Women's ODI and T20I Team of the Year

Smriti Mandhana Career

Smriti Mandhana’s rise began early, when she made her senior team debut for Maharashtra at just 13 years old in 2010, and was named captain at the age of 16. She made her international debut in a series against Bangladesh in April 2013.

In 2014, she made a memorable Test debut with a half-century in India’s historic win over England at Wormsley. Three years later, she scored 90 runs in her first ODI World Cup match, during a tournament where India reached the finals.. Even before the Women’s Premier League (WPL) came into existence, Mandhana was already a key figure in T20 cricket, becoming the second Indian to sign a franchise deal with the Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

Her crowning achievement came in 2024, when she led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the WPL title. This victory solidified her legacy, especially after she became the most expensive signing in the WPL’s inaugural auction, with a bid of INR 3.4 crore (USD 415,000).

Smriti Mandhana Domestic Career

According to the BCCI’s official website, Smriti Mandhana made her domestic debut for Maharashtra at the age of nine, made her senior team debut at 13 and eventually became captain at the age of 16 in 2013. She showed her incredible potential by hitting an undefeated 224 off 150 balls versus Gujarat while representing Maharashtra in the West Zone Under-19 Tournament in October 2013.

In the 2016 Women's Challenger Trophy, she maintained her form by hitting three half-centuries for India Red. Mandhana's successful performance in the championship match drove her team to victory with an unbeaten 62 off 82 balls and earned her the title of tournament top scorer with 192 runs.

Smriti Mandhana Franchise Career

In September 2016, Mandhana signed up a one-year deal with Brisbane Heat for the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) along with Harmanpreet Kaur and became one of the first two Indians to be signed up for the League.

Playing against Melbourne Renegades in January 2017, she fell awkwardly while fielding after bowling the final ball of her over hurting one of her knees which ruled her out of the rest of the tournament. She ended that season with 89 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 94.68.

She joined Hobart Hurricanes in the 2018/19 WBBL season and scored 318 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 144.54, including a couple of fifties. Mandhana bettered her WBBL record in the seventh season while representing Sydney Thunder. She equalled the record of highest individual score of WBBL with Ashleigh Gardner in her unbeaten 114 off 64 deliveries versus Melbourne Renegades, smashing 14 fours and three sixes in a belligerent knock in Mackay.

With 377 runs from 13 matches at an average of 34.27 and striking at 130.44, Mandhana was the Thunder's highest run-scorer in WBBL 2021. In June 2018, Mandhana signed for Kia Super League defending champions Western Storm and became the first Indian to play in this league.

Southern Brave signed Mandhana for the inaugural edition of the Women's Hundred in England. She scored 167 runs in seven matches before she flew to India to see her family ahead of the India women's Australia tour. She scored 211 runs in the second season as Southern Brave's highest run-getter in the tournament. Her best score in the tournament is 78 against Welsh Fire in 2021.

Mandhana was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first auction of the Women's Premier League for INR 3.4 crore, making her the most expensive player of the tournament. She was named the captain of the RCB women's team in the inaugural season but failed to lead from the front with her bat. She managed just 149 runs in eight matches at 18.62 with her best score being 37. In the second season of WPL, Smriti Mandhana made a strong comeback and scored 300 runs in 10 games at 30.00 with two half-centuries but that was not the highlight for her in the 2024 season, she made Royal Challengers fans experience the joy of becoming a franchise champion. She led his team to the victory of WPL in the second season.

Smriti Mandhana International Career

In 2014, Smriti Mandhana made her Test debut against England, scoring 22 and 51 runs to help India win. While India was touring Australia in 2016, she amassed her first century in an international match (102 off 109 balls), despite India's defeat. She was the only player from India selected for the ICC Women's Team of the Year that year.

In early 2017, Mandhana made a full recovery from a major knee injury in time for the Women's Cricket World Cup. She scored 90 in the opening round of the competition before smashing a century against the West Indies. Her contribution to the Indian team's advancement to the title game was crucial, where they were narrowly defeated by England.

Her 2018 season was heavily successful, as she ended the year as the top WODI run scorer, became the first player to achieve a century in the Women's Cricket Super League, and was named player of the series in a WODI series against England.

In 2019, Mandhana scored the fastest fifty for India in Women's T20Is (24 balls) against New Zealand and became India's youngest T20I captain. She scored two thousand runs in WODIs in less than fifty-one innings. She played for India in the 2020 T20 World Cup and scored her first century in a Test match against Australia in 2021. She assisted in leading India to triumph at the Asian Games and served as vice captain for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Mandhana is still an important member of the Indian squad, as she was included in the squad for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

Smriti Mandhana Test Career

Smriti Mandhana made her Test debut on 13 August, 2014, against England at Wormsley, where she scored 22 runs in the first innings and 51 runs in the second innings while batting.

In the first innings of the only Test match played against Australia in 2021, Smriti Mandhana scored the first century of her Test career. At the time, Smriti Mandhana became the third player from India to score a century in Test cricket, before this feat was achieved by Hemlata Kala and Sandhya Agarwal. Smriti Mandhana has so far scored 629 runs in 12 innings of 7 Test matches at an average of 57.5, in which her highest score has been 149 runs, as of October 2024.

Smriti Mandhana's ODI career

In the second ODI game of India's tour of Australia in 2016 at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Mandhana scored her maiden international hundred (102 off 109 balls) but the match ended in a losing cause for India. Mandhana was also the only Indian player to be named in the ICC Women's Team of the Year in 2016.

Mandhana came into the team for the 2017 World Cup after recovering from an injury she sustained, an anterior cruciate ligament rupture, during her time at the WBBL in January that year. In her five-month recovery period, she missed the World Cup Qualifier and the Quadrangular Series in South Africa. She began the World Cup with a score of 90 against England in Derby, in the first of the group matches. She helped her team win by 35 runs and was named the player of the match followed by her second hundred in a One Day International against West Indies (106*).

The Indian opener could only manage to score 36 runs in the next seven innings, including a duck against England in the final while India were chasing 229 at the Lord's. Mandhana finished the tournament with 232 runs at 29.00.

Mandhana scored 135 against South Africa in the second ODI in 2018, just after she made 84 runs in the previous ODI. India won the match by 88 runs and Mandhana was awarded player of the match. She had a great home series against Australia and England, as she hit four half-centuries in the six ODI matches. Her brilliant run with the bat continued in Sri Lanka (September 2018) and New Zealand (January 2019), as she compiled 138 and 196 runs respectively in the three-match ODI series in both countries against the host nation.

Mandhana scored 63 and 66 against England, as India beat them 2-1 in the ODIs at home in February 2019. Apart from her 86 runs in the second ODI against Australia, Mandhana had an inconsistent form during the tours of England and Australia in 2021. She was named in the Mithali Raj-led squad for the 2022 Women's World Cup in New Zealand.

Mandhana started the tournament with a score of 52 against Pakistan and hit 123 runs against the West Indies in Hamilton. She made 71 in India's final round-robin game against South Africa but the match ended in a loss for India and were subsequently knocked out of the tournament. Mandhana scored 327 at 46.71 in the respective World Cup.

She was unbeaten at 94 runs against Sri Lanka in the second ODI in Pallekele. Mandhana scored 91, 40, and 50 runs in India's white-ball tour of England, as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side resulted in a 3-0 sweep in ODIs against England for the first time since 2001-02.

Smriti Mandhana T20I career

Smriti made her T20I debut against Bangladesh on April 5, 2013, and scored 39 runs off 36 balls in Vadodara. She smashed her first T20I (52) fifty against South Africa in her eighth match. However, the gap between her first and second T20I half-century is 21 innings and 1,174 days. She ended the drought with a 57-off-42 balls performance against the Proteas women on February 16, 2018.

She scored back-to-back fifties against Australia (67) and England (76) at the Brabourne Stadium in the Tri-Nation Women's T20 series in 2018. She was the second-highest run-scorer in the tri-series, hitting 208 runs in four innings but India missed out in the finals, as they could manage just one win from four games.

Mandhana scored 178 runs in the 2018 Women's T20 World Cup in the West Indies, the third-highest scorer behind Harmanpreet Kaur (183) and Alyssa Healy (225). The Indian opener smashed 83 off 55 balls against the eventual champions Australia. She racked up nine fours and three sixes in her magnificent knock, as India defeated the Aussies by 48 runs in their final group game.

Mandhana was not out on 63 against Pakistan in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She hit another super inning of 61 runs against England in the semi-final to help India's way to the final. She was dismissed for six runs in the final by Australian pacer Darcie Brown and India eventually fell nine runs short of the 162-run chase and had to settle with the silver medal in what was the first event for women's cricket in Commonwealth Games.

Mandhana scored 134 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 130.09 in India's title-winning campaign in the Women's Asia Cup 2022. She raced to 51 runs off 25 balls with six fours and three sixes in a 66-run chase against Sri Lanka in the final.

However, Mandhana missed India's opening match against Pakistan in the 2022 Women's World Cup because of injury but later hit successive fifties including her career-best score of 87 against Ireland in Gqebera. Mandhana once again failed to score in the big matches, as she went for 2 runs in the semi-final against Australia. She made 151 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 138.53 in the tournament.

Smriti Mandhana Captaincy Career

Smriti Mandhana was made the captain of the Indian T20 team, in the absence of captain Harmanpreet Kaur for the 3 T20I series against England in February 2019, with which she also became the youngest T20 captain of India at the age of 22 years and 229 days.

From 2019 to October 2024, Smriti Mandhana has captained 14 T20 matches and faced eight wins and five losses. She has captained in only one format so far, she has not had a chance to lead the team even once in ODI and Test formats.

Smriti Mandhana Family Background

At the age of two, her family moved to Madhavnagar, Sangli in Maharashtra, where she completed her schooling. Both her father and brother, Shravan, played cricket for Sangli at the district level, which inspired her to take up cricket after watching her brother play at the different Maharashtra state Under-16s tournaments. At the age of nine, she was also selected for Maharashtra's Under-15 team. At eleven, she was a part of the Maharashtra Under-19s team.

Her father Shrinivas, a chemical distributor, takes care of her cricket program while her mother Smita is in charge of her diet, clothing, and other organizational aspects. Her brother Shravan bowls to her in the nets occasionally.

Smriti Mandhana's Net Worth

Smriti Mandhana’s net worth is estimated to be around INR 33 crores, according to the Times of India. Ranked as the fourth wealthiest female cricketer globally, Mandhana has become a key player not only for her teams but also in terms of earnings.

She is one of the highest-paid Indian cricketers today. Her income comes from multiple sources, including an annual BCCI retainer contract worth INR 50 lakh, match fees of INR 4 lakh, 2 lakh, and 2.5 lakh for each Test, ODI, and T20I match, respectively, and franchise leagues such as the WPL, WBBL, and the Hundred.

Smriti Mandhana Car Collection

According to Zee News, one of the highlights in Mandhana’s garage is the Range Rover Evoque, a stylish and powerful SUV. Smriti invested a whopping ₹70 lakhs in this luxury vehicle. In addition to the Evoque, Smriti also owns a Hyundai Creta, a popular SUV in India, valued at ₹21 lakhs. Lastly, Mandhana’s collection includes a Maruti Suzuki Swift, a compact yet efficient car that she bought for ₹12 lakhs.

Smriti Mandhana House

Smriti Mandhana's home in Sangli, Maharashtra, is her ‘peaceful retreat.’ Featured in Season 4 of Asian Paints Where The Heart Is, her apartment, created by merging two flats, reflects her minimalist style. According to Cosmopolitan, the space is designed in muted browns and whites, with textured walls and wooden shelves showcasing her numerous trophies.

The living room, with a cozy brown L-shaped sofa, is where her family spends most of their time, enjoying card games and conversations. Large windows fill the space with natural light, making it bright and inviting. Her home also includes a personal gym and a studio for shoots. Smriti’s bedroom mirrors her love for fashion, featuring an open wall-to-wall closet filled with clothes, shoes, and accessories. The room is clutter-free, with framed photos adding a personal touch, creating a space where she can think and plan for her game.