SMRITI MANDHANA IS HERE TO STAY

This April, Smriti Mandhana will complete ten years as an international cricketer. In these ten years, Mandhana has overcome a treacherous start and a career-threatening injury to establish herself as one of the most versatile batters going around. At 26, she is already a veteran of the Indian team. And yet it feels like she is just starting out, with the best days of her career well ahead of her

- RAVI RAJ

Nowhere is the age-old tension between aesthetics and utility as evident as in modern sports. What resonates with our senses might not always be useful. In this specific milieu comes Smriti Mandhana, who is nobody's idea of a philosopher - in fact, she doesn't like books - but her cricket offers some critical insights on how beauty doesn't always need to be sacrificed on the altar of utility.

No Indian batters have scored more runs across limited-overs formats than Mandhana in the last five years. She bats in her own noiseless channel, completely detached from the consequences, never letting the pressure dynamic creep into her game. Scoring runs is all that matters, and she has been doing that with impeccable consistency for years now.

Born in Sangli, a city around 400 km from Mumbai, Mandhana's early exposure to the game came through her cricket-freak father and elder brother, Shravan. Instinctively adopting their left-handed batting stances, Mandhana rose through the ranks at a rapid pace, playing her first game for the state's U-19 team at 11, and then making her senior debut for Maharashtra at just 15. Being a child prodigy destined for greatness meant living under constant scrutiny, but Mandhana remained detached from the chatter. She says that she never thought of herself that way.

"I always lived in the present. Even as a kid, I was always very focused on what I needed to be doing on daily basis to get better. I don't really remember any extra baggage. I just wanted to enjoy myself out there and give my best for India," says Mandhana, who has always loved the extra responsibility that expectations from fans add to her shoulders.