Charismatic top-order batter Smriti Mandhana has been nominated for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October after her string of brilliant performances that helped India to lift their maiden Women’s ODI World Cup Trophy.
Smriti will be vying for the honour along with South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt and dynamic Australia batter Ashleigh Gardner.
Smriti Mandhana led the Indian charge at the top, and her partnerships with opening batter Pratika Rawal created quite a buzz in the showpiece event. Mandhana, 29, had a relatively quiet start, but soon came into her own with a blistering 80 against seven-time champions Australia, and followed it up with a combative 88 against England.
Though India lost both the matches, it was clear that Smriti Mandhana was in the zone. In the must-win encounter against New Zealand, Mandhana stood up to the challenge smashing a brilliant 109, and stitching a match-winning partnership of 212 with Rawal.
In the final against South Africa, Smriti Mandhana gave a solid start to the Indian team by scoring 45 runs, and also shared a centurial partnership with Shafali Verma at the top order- which eventually yielded out positive result and made way for the team to a victorious World Cup campaign.