Smriti Mandhana has been in exemplary form in recent months, scoring runs for fun across formats. In the three-match ODI series against Australia, she aggregated 300 runs in three innings, notching up two centuries.
In the decisive third ODI, she smashed a 50-ball century to give India hopes of chasing down a mammoth 413-run target. She registered the fastest ton by an Indian batter in ODI cricket, going past Virat Kohli's record of a 52-ball century against Australia in 2013. Harmanpreet Kaur and
Deepti Sharma also scored half-centuries but the Women in Blue were eventually bowled out for 369.
Ahead of the Women's ODI World Cup, there is a common belief in the cricket fraternity that the Indian team is overreliant on Smriti Mandhana in the batting department. However, the southpaw discarded this notion and asserted that all 15 members in India's squad are match-winners and none of them are adding pressure on the other teammates.
"Everyone [in the Indian side] is a match-winner - not only [the] 11 but all the 15 who are part of the team are match-winners. I never look at anyone thinking that they are adding any pressure on me or anyone, for that case," Mandhana said in the post-match press conference.
"Secondly I have a huge belief in the whole team, that from any point we can still win the match. That is never going to change with one or two results. If you see in the last 12-odd months we've got 300 or 300-plus even when I've got out so that doesn't really say anything about the batting reliance on anyone. Pratika [Rawal], Harleen [Deol], Jemimah [Rodrigues], Harman, everyone's got a hundred in the last 12 months," she added.
Mandhana said that playing against a formidable opposition like Australia just days before the commencement of the World Cup was a great way to test the team's strengths and weaknesses. The Indian vice-captain opined that they could show a bit more consistency in the fielding department.
"Australia is a great opposition to test ourselves [against] in terms of where we are lacking. [...] It was a good series in terms of understanding our strengths and where we are lacking. There's a lot of difference [between the teams] in the fielding. Fielding part is one thing which as a team we are on a rise but we also feel there are days where we look like a [good] fielding side and there are days where we don't," Mandhana said.
"That's about how we find the consistency in the team in terms of fielding as a unit and not individual brilliance, but fielding together as a team. That's one thing which we thought we have to address before the World Cup. Otherwise, for everyone, it was just about [getting] the feel of the Indian conditions and how we really want to go forward," she added.
As long as that willingness to work hard is there, I feel the battle will be won: Mandhana
Mandhana was particularly pleased with the willingness to do well for the nation shown by the younger players in the Indian team. She believes that this mindset could stand India in good stead in the upcoming World Cup.
"The series was not like it was going to make us believe that we'll win the World Cup. That belief is always there. This series is just for us in terms of understanding what is going right and what's going wrong because Australia is the best opposition to test it out [against]," Mandhana said.
"We've had a great 12 months at home but we did not play Australia at home in the last 12 months. [We have taken back] a lot of positives, a lot of things in terms of what we want to work on. As long as that willingness to work hard is there, I feel the battle will be won. I see that a lot in the girls - that willingness to win, the willingness to learn and the willingness to grow. It's a young team but the will level is very high," she added.
India lost the three-match series 1-2 against Australia, and will now shift their focus to their warm-up games against England and New Zealand before taking on Sri Lanka in the curtain raiser of the World Cup on September 30.
