You cannot just be a performer, you have to be a match-winner for India, says Smriti Mandhana

Elevated to captaincy in T20Is in absence of injured Harmanpreet Kaur, 2018’s ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year, Smriti Mandhana talks to G Krishnan about secret behind her success, and whether now is the time for women’s IPL. Excerpts:

What has been the secret to your glorious current form?

Secret? (Smiles). I don't think there is anything. It is just keeping things simple, enjoying everything I do in cricket. Just the responsibility of winning matches for India, and that thought, is very important. I don't think there is any secret to my current form.

Do you feel you are at your best now, or is it yet to come?

You never know what your best is. I can't limit myself to a 60 or an 80 and say this is my best. You never know, tomorrow I might score a century and say 'that is my best'. I don't know what my best is. I don't want to limit myself to a certain kind of form or certain amount of runs.

How has life changed over the years en route to becoming the ODI No. 1 ranked batter?

Nothing has changed at all. I am the same old person. At certain parts of your career, you need to reflect and think 'where am I?' I realised this about a year-and-a-half that you cannot just be a performer, you have to be a match-winner for India. That perspective of mine has changed – that I need to be a match-winner for India. Otherwise, it has been a good journey. I don't think anything has changed for me personally.

… Or with your batting?

Majorly, I have not changed my batting, just some technical changes, which you anyways do to get better. Also, getting the team through, the responsibility as a batter, not just throw your wickets away, getting the team through. If you have that in your head, you select your shots. I used to be not that great earlier with shot selections. I am still working on it. When you have all the shots in your book, it can be your strength as well as your weakness. I cannot go on a single gear always. What my team needs me as a batter is important. I try to look at the scoreboard and play accordingly.

(Mandhana takes a selfie with spectators during 3rd ODI against England on Thursday—Salman Ansari/DNA)

How did the turnaround come, from realising that you have to be a match-winner than just a performer?

The turnaround is still on its way (smiles). You need to be a responsible batter and have the hunger to win matches for India. The best feeling is when you return 'Not Out' for India. Just keeping that feeling in tact is important. The routine is the same. The mindset of me having to stay there and win the match, not play a rash shot and sit thinking 'I should have been there and should have won the match there'.

You have been saying since the recent New Zealand tour that you have to bat till the end. Is that more of a mental thing?

It is definitely a mental thing. From the way I think how I was a batter earlier and now how I am is a mental shift. To go to the next level is again a mental shift. I don't think that's anything to do with technique. If I am scoring 85-90 runs and getting out, it is not technical. It is just about mental. Being hungrier to do, I am trying that and hopefully it will happen.

Jemimah Rodrigues and you have struck a good combination at the top. How has it been to bat with her?

We have not played that much together. She plays for Mumbai, I play for Maharashtra. We speak quite less on the field, but a lot off it. On the field, she is quite serious. For an 18-year-old to come to the circuit and grow this much in a year is difficult. To see her growth is amazing. Everyone around her wants her to grow. Whatever we can do to support her, we will try. It is fun batting with her and we have had some good partnerships. Hopefully, we will keep giving good starts for India and it is important for both of us to finish matches for India.

Your team-mates like Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami have spoken of minute details that (head coach) WV Raman notices in their games and helped them improve. How have you benefited from his expertise so far?

Technically, it's not much. He said to me that the only thing that stops me as a batter is my patience. I like playing a lot of shots. He told me to take responsibility and bat, to get through those phases, say 30 overs in an ODI or 14-15 overs in T20I, and I would end up playing full overs. He gives me small targets. He knows that if I ended up batting 35 overs in ODIs, the team and I will end in a good position. He says not to worry about strike rate because 'if you are there, everything will come, you need to be there'. That's the only thing that he has told me about my batting. He has helped everyone a lot. I can a lot of positivity around.

You are world's No. 1 ODI batter. You won the ICC Women's Cricketer of the year 2018 award. What do these recognitions mean to you? Do they put you under pressure to live up to the expectations?

No pressure. Why do I take pressure if I am getting some award? To get that award or to get to No. 1 rank is because of the things I followed. I don't think I should stop following them. It doesn't make sense that getting an award puts pressure on me. I will feel a bit more confident. The only pressure is winning the match for India. You can't go out to bat thinking 'I am No. 1 in the world', 'I won this award'. When you are travelling a lot, there are days when you feel 'I don't want to do this', 'let me skip this one (practice) session'. When that thought strikes you, these awards remind you that you have to maintain your routine and motivate you to keep doing the same things. There is no pressure, and I don't like taking pressure.

Do you think now is the right time for women's IPL?

It is the perfect time to start. Till we don't start, we won't know where we stand. If we don't start, every year we will have the same conversation, 'should we or should we not?' There's Women's Big Bash League (in Australia), there was Super League (in England) and you can see the kind of development that has got into their game. Just for the fact that we need development and we need people ready for the sport, we need IPL.

You scored a lot of runs in Super League last year. You have also played in WBBL. What has playing in these leagues taught you?

These leagues help you grow as person. The leagues develop you as a player, yes, but the major impact is you grow as a person a lot because you have to stay alone, you need to do all your work on your own. When you go with the Indian team, you get whatever you want, everything is provided for. But when you go alone, you have do your own work, manage your own stuff. We always have our mom or dad doing things for us. But to do things on your own makes you a better person. After playing in these leagues, you know the opponents when you go for international matches. Playing with and against them in these leagues, I know what a particular player is all about.

Does it make life easier in international cricket?

Yes, definitely. When you play a bowler after one or two years – we generally play a team after one or two years – they change a lot. But if you play them regularly – you play all the top bowlers from each team twice in a year in Super League and WBBL – you have an idea what they do and that helps a lot for a batter in international matches. We also keep giving inputs to our bowlers about the opposition batters. That gives a bit of advantage. Like in IPL, players know what they think or what they are going to do. That is an advantage.

You have been named captain for the first time in Harmanpreet Kaur's absence to injury. Are you ready for T20 captaincy?

I have been vice-captain for two-and-a-half years now. I have always been giving inputs to Hari-di (Harmanpreet) whenever I felt in T20s. I have been playing under a lot of captains, have always learnt a lot from everyone, Mithali-di (Mithali Raj), Jhulu-di (Jhulan Goswami) and Hari-di, now it is just about applying that. It is important not to think 'I am the captain'. I will do what they want from me, not what I want from them. It is all about what the team requires. I enjoy my batting. I like it. I started playing because I enjoyed it. The same is true for captaincy. If I don't enjoy it, it doesn't make sense. It is about enjoying what you do. If you look back at my career, I was 16 or 17 when I became the state captain. I have been leading India 'A' or Challengers teams since 18. Captaincy is not something that is very new to me. International captaincy is a totally different stuff. In the IPL match we played last year, I was captain. That match definitely made me think, 'I can do this'. That match helped. Before that, I doubted myself if I could do it. After that match, I said to myself, 'it's ok. I can do it'.

You have always regarded Kumar Sangakkara as you idol. Do you idolise others too?

Idol is someone whose certain aspects of batting I want in my game. I never wanted to be a replica of Sangakkara. I wanted some aspects of Sangakkara batting, some aspects of (Matthew) Hayden's batting, some aspects of Virat (Kohli) in my batting. Kohli, the way he finishes matches, I would like to take a leaf of it.

There were double headers in New Zealand recently. Did you get a chance to meet Kohli and talk about improving your batting?

Yes. I have spoken to him about batting and he has been very helpful in NZ. Whatever doubts I had about my batting, I spoke with him and it was very helpful

You look very calm, having fun, ever-smiling. Do you get angry?

I am not someone who gets angry. I get angry off the field, sometimes. On the field I may have been angry at myself once or twice, not sure, and that too would have been at myself.