Mandhana's Maiden T20I Century Fueled by Yadav's Encouragement

Smriti Mandhana revealed that a pre-match conversation with teammate Radha Yadav motivated her to achieve her maiden T20I century. The Indian batter reached the milestone in the first T20I against England.

Smriti Mandhana scored her maiden T20I hundred in the first game against England © Getty

Mandhana explained, "Three days back, me and Radha Yadav were having a conversation. These girls are really hard on me sometimes. She was telling me, 'It's high time you get a century in T20Is, you keep getting out in the 70s, 80s and you are not doing justice to your talent.'"

She added, "I was like, 'okay, Radha, I'll see now, this time I'll try and get it in one of the matches in the series'."

Upon reaching the century mark, Mandhana joined an elite group of female cricketers. She is now only the second Indian batter to score a century in Women's T20Is and the fifth female cricketer overall to have a hundred in each international format. The other players are Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Laura Wolvaardt, and Beth Mooney.

Mandhana acknowledged Yadav immediately after achieving the milestone. She pointed at her from the field, a gesture that represented both joy and relief.

"I did not think that it would come in the first match, but the finger was towards her, that 'see, I got it today,'" Mandhana stated. "Because it's pretty frustrating to get out in the 70s and 80s over the last ten years. So I'm happy that I could stay and take the team to the 19th and the 20th over."

With Harmanpreet Kaur ruled out due to a late fitness test, Mandhana took on the captaincy role. She insisted that the added responsibility did not impact her batting approach.

"As a batter, it doesn't change a lot. You don't think that you are captaining and you bat differently," Mandhana said. "Whenever you have the bat in hand, you have to do the job for the team regardless of the position you are in, so I'm really happy that I could contribute today."

She also mentioned that the team had prepared for the possibility of Kaur's absence.

"Harman was getting assessed over last night and this morning and there were a few scans to be done. We had a 50-50 idea, so I had a chat with the bowlers around what the plans are and I was pretty ready last night but the confirmation came today."

Under Mandhana's captaincy, India Women delivered a commanding all-round performance. They handed England Women their most significant T20I defeat. Shree Charani, in her first international T20I match, impressed with a four-wicket haul.

"The way the bowlers bowled and executed the plan, it was just amazing," Mandhana said. "That makes our job very, very easy when they bowl like that and they all were really focused, they knew their plans."

Mandhana further added, "Especially Shree, to come in the first match and bowl. We saw what she could do in the WPL a little bit. She was always looking like a really good bowler. But today the way she actually bowled was amazing, as did all the bowlers."