Mumbai: If one is travelling by a Mumbai local train these days, the posters of Smriti Mandhana splashed on most of the compartments, promoting a nationalised bank along with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, are unmissable.
And in this ICC Women’s World Cup, the India women’s team vice captain’s brand has only become bigger.
After leading the India team into the semi-finals with a superb, entertaining century on Thursday against New Zealand at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium, her popularity has soared even further.
She was named Player of the Match for her 109 off 95 balls, including 10 fours and four sixes. The hundred came after an 80 against Australia and 88 against England, albeit in losing causes.
On current form and her proven record, clearly she is India’s biggest match-winner along with captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
Naturally, a slow start of 8, 23 and 23 in her first three matches affected the side’s performance and had the team’s followers worried. But with three sizzling knocks, the stylish opening batter has hit form at the right time. More importantly her runs have come against three of the strongest teams in the tournament.
The importance of peaking at the right time in big tournaments can’t be emphasised enough and Mandhana, thankfully for India, has really come into her own at the business end of the tournament.
When the opening batter fires, India look like a different team. Her ability to play with a silken touch as well as come up with effortless big hits. Very few cricketers in the world have the 50 overs format figured out the way she has, whether it is giving a quick start or playing the long innings.
In 114 innings, the star player has amassed over 5,200 runs with a batting average of 48.32, including 14 centuries and 32 fifties with a highest score of 136. Currently, she is the leading run-scorer in the ongoing World Cup, aggregating 331 runs from six matches for an average of 55.16 at a strike rate of 100.60, including a century and three fifties.
In 2025, she has been on a roll. With Thursday’s hundred, the Maharashtra player equalled Tazmin Brits’ record for the most Women’s ODI hundreds in a calendar year. Her numbers for the year make for impressive reading: 1259 runs in 20 matches (average of 62.95 at a strike rate of 111.41) with five hundreds and five fifties, with a highest score of 135.
Keep it going
The semi-final berth sealed, now it is about keeping the momentum going for the India team. In a big positive, other batters have also started firing but the key for India is going to be Mandhana in the knockout tie on October 30 at DY Patil Stadium.
After finishing fourth in the league, the home team is either going to face Australia or South Africa, depending on the result of the last league match between the two.
Australia are clearly the team to beat at this World Cup, sitting pretty at the top of the league table. If the semi-final is against Australia, the team will be required to play out of their skins.
But to make a match out of it, Smriti has to fire. Four out of her 14 ODI hundreds have come against the most successful team in Women’s World Cup history, having scored 996 runs in 20 matches at an average of 49.80.
In India, against Australia, her record gets even better, 574 runs at an average of 63.77. She had a run of 58, 117 and 125 in the three game series played last month, before scoring 80 in the World Cup league game last week. Her recent run is proof that it is the most prized wicket for the Australia side.
Despite Mandhan’s fine knock of 80, India had lost the game played on October 12 at Visakhapatnam. Even in their next match, against England, the in-form opener didn’t play to her potential when well-set on 88 the team needed her to finish the game chasing a total of 288. To the dismay of the home crowd at Indore, she faltered, playing a loose, lofted shot to be caught in the deep resulting in a four-run defeat.
But, the hallmark of good players is how they keep improving. After the Indore game, Smriti promised to make amends. She proved true to her words and converted her innings to a hundred to play a big part in India getting to a total of 340 in 49 overs against New Zealand.
“The first three games did not go my way, especially the second and third one. I back myself to play a longer innings after getting to 20. In World Cups, you have to keep a lot of things in the past. If you are in form, you need to keep going and not complicate things. That is what I kept telling myself. I am feeling good and that is what matters,” Smriti told the official broadcaster after receiving the man of the match award on Thursday.
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, who is retiring after the World Cup, expressed relief that she will no longer face Mandhana, while praising the Indian batter’s record-breaking form.
“Smriti is an outstanding player. She’s smashed records this year, is still young, and I’m glad I’m retiring so I don’t have to deal with her,” Devine said in the post-match press conference. The NZ skipper highlighted how reaching that kind of level doesn’t come easy and requires continuous development.
“You don’t reach her level without being an efficient trainer and knowing how to develop your game. She’ll continue to get better, and I’ll just watch from the sideline.”