India Women’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has credited the team’s recent strong performances to their focused off-field preparations. Mandhana herself has been in exceptional form, accumulating 747 runs in 2024 and 628 runs in 2025, making her the top run-scorer in women’s ODIs this year.
Team Spirit and Training Behind the Success
The 2025 Women’s World Cup is set to begin on September 30, with India opening the tournament against Sri Lanka. After falling short in the previous edition in 2022, the Indian team is aiming for a stronger campaign, especially with favourable home conditions. Mandhana highlighted the significance of the team’s intense training camps and the positive environment within the squad.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔. 𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆-𝒂𝒏𝒅-𝒂-𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑼𝑲, 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓,” 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅
She also praised the emergence of young talent like Kranti Goud, who recently took six wickets in an ODI. “To watch her go was just amazing. Sometimes, the environment really helps all of them,” she added.
Smriti Mandhana: Calmness and Improved Work Ethic Driving Growth
Smriti Mandhana reflected on how her personal work ethic has evolved over the past few years, which has brought greater calmness and focus to her game. This transformation, she believes, has contributed significantly to her performance and the team’s overall growth.
“More than my mindset, the work ethics have changed quite a lot in the last two or three years. And because of that, there is a lot of calmness around how I want to go about my cricket,” Mandhana explained. “Our primary job is to do the job. And not only for me—I think the whole team is heading in that direction. We know where we have to work hard, so we are pretty clear on that. That creates a lot of calmness.”
Balanced Competition Raises the Stakes
Smriti Mandhana also noted that the competition in women’s cricket has become much more balanced, with no team guaranteed a place in the finals. She welcomed this unpredictability, saying it pushes teams to perform at their best every day.
“𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕,” 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
The trophy tour launch event was also attended by India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, alongside key ICC officials, marking the buildup to an exciting World Cup campaign.
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