Have got my groove back but want to be more consistent: Mandhana

Gurugram: Smriti Mandhana has established herself as one of the leading batters in women’s cricket but the elegant southpaw wants to add more consistency to her batting going into the ODI World Cup next year.

The 25-year-old did not have the best of times in the home series against South Africa, which marked the Indian team’s return to international cricket in COVID times, before she found her rhythm on away tours of England and Australia.

Mandhana, who plays all formats and is considered as a future leader of the Indian women’s team, feels it is imperative for a batter to remain selfish for achieving consistency.

“Post Covid, it was hard to get the rhythm back as I was playing international cricket after one and a half years,” Mandhana told PTI after being named a Hyundai ambassador here, alongside Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Taniya Bhatia.“It took a while to get into the groove but the last two series have been decent but surely there is scope for improvement.“I am really happy with the way I have been timing the ball. I am sure the team has also learnt a lot in the last one year which will help us go forward.” Mandhana is back from a fruitful stint in the Women’s Big Bash League where she hit a sublime hundred. During the tour of Australia, she also struck a high quality hundred in the pink ball Test, besides scoring two fifties in the limited overs leg. losing 1-2. -(PTI)