Smriti Mandhana Quotes

On the ground, I am a professional cricketer – I don’t need to wear lipstick. If I want to look good, I know when to wear make-up. I do not accept it being put on my face when I am wearing the India kit.

If you look at our domestic scores in T20s, it is generally around 110-120. I think we all need to go back, step up our domestic circuit, take those scores to 140-150. If that is happening then all the batters will come with the same mindset of playing a fearless brand of cricket.

I felt I have gifted my wicket. So more than technique, I need to work on my shot selection, I need to decide which ball to be hit, I was going for every shot.

I have been a huge fan of Sangakkara Sir, since I started watching cricket on the TV.

I love long drives. But for me Sangli to Mumbai is a trip that I do every month at least when I am home. I think every 15 to 20 days, I come.

First I wanted number seven since my roll number in school was seven. But, someone was already wearing jersey number seven. Then a BCCI manager said I should take 18 since my birthday is on 18 July. At that time, I didn’t know that Virat Kohli also wears number 18.

I have not compromised in the last seven years on my preparations, be it a small series or a World Cup. I know that there is a World Cup, but I want to go out and play my game.

As a kid, you always dream to play at Lord‘s. Unfortunately, we missed playing at Lord’s in 2014 as the match was washed out.

Every time you are on a tour you miss Indian food.

My brother keeps texting me about the latest Audi and BMWs that have come. He keeps suggesting I buy one of them. He does share the specifications.

I followed in my brother’s footsteps. I used to wake up at 5 a.m, and wait for him to complete his cricket practice just so I could play the 10-15 balls pitched to me at the end.

If you get out back-to-back in T20s, it proves costly.

I am professional. If I am on the field, I am 100 per cent focused on that. Off the field, I switch off.

Failure teaches you a lot more than success.

It really feels good that I am in both the ODI and T20 teams. My first aim is to perform for India. And when that gets appreciated, it is a validation that you have done well.

I don’t think that I’ve scored these many runs or I’ve achieved these things, because I believe it is something that doesn’t help me. Whenever I go out to bat, it’s a fresh start.

The other thing I like is spending time with my family. I keep helping mom with cooking. I guess washing utensils has become part of my daily routine and I love troubling my brother as well. It’s my favourite pastime.

Whenever I go out to bat, my only responsibility is to look at the scoreboard and think what India needs from me at this moment.

I love sleeping, I can sleep for 15 hours a day.

I slowly began to develop an interest in the game. I owe my success to my family. Had it not been for my father and my brother, I would not have been so closely associated with cricket.

It was nice to receive the ICC woman‘s cricketer of the year award because when Jhulan Goswami won the award I was very young.

We need to understand that the revenue which we get is through men’s cricket.

Responsibility makes a player better. I was made the captain of Maharashtra senior team when I was 16 or 17. I know how to take the team forward. I had been through the responsibilities.

When the team is doing well, individual performances don’t count.

It’s funny, because earlier, I used to have questions about how you coped with the seniors in the team, and now I get questions about how you’re guiding these juniors.

I am in a frame where I want to enjoy cricket. Of course, I think about my game: how I got out, what I could have done better. But that I think for half-an-hour and that’s enough.

I was not keen on fitness before injury and now I am very keen on fitness.

Fearless doesn’t mean careless. There is a thin line between fearless and careless. I think we need to play fearless.

I chose cricket as my career when I was 15 or 16 when I scored a century for Maharashtra.

My batting mentality is to see the ball and hit it. I don’t know what bowlers see while batting.

You never know what your best is. I can’t limit myself to a 60 and say it is my best. If I can chase any total and if I win matches for India, then only it would be my best.

When I am in my India jersey, I don’t want to be looking glamorous.

I am a big movie buff. So, I make sure I watch two-three movies a week, not many because I don’t want to get addicted.

I hate comparisons, just as I hated being compared to my brother and vice-versa.

I’m mostly a quiet person by nature and don’t like letting my emotions come out on the field.

As a cricketer you just can’t sit at one place and do nothing.

More than my dream it was my family’s dream that I play for India and they always supported me.

I am not too much into Netflix and Amazon because spending quality time with family is more valuable.

In the last two World Cups, I realised that when you put a lot of pressure on yourself, it does not work.

I used to think, ‘Everything’s okay, or will be. I’ll go on with this stance.’ But after the World Cup, I was open to everything: if someone suggested a change in my technique I felt could work for me, I was willing to give it a try.

There is a huge gap between international and domestic cricket. That gap needs to be lessened. Our domestic circuit needs to step up.

Every time I enter the field, it’s like, ‘Smriti, you have to score.’ And I love that responsibility.

The loss in the final of the 2017 World Cup really inspired me to do a lot better. I worked a lot on my batting as I didn’t want to go back to that phase again.

I used to feel like not scoring runs is the worst thing in life but I started thinking: ‘No, at least I’m getting to go out on the field wearing the Indian jersey.’ Not many get to do that. I am lucky. Now, if I get runs or don’t get runs, I’m just going out there trying to enjoy my cricket.

I am fortunate that I come from a family that never distinguished between a boy and a girl. I had the freedom to chose my entire life and have been supported throughout by my family.