Smriti Mandhana is currently on England team with the Indian team.
Indian women’s batting superstar Smriti Mandhana admitted that she is mulling over pulling out of the upcoming Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) to manage her workload.
She has been continuously playing since February, taking part in India’s bilateral series against New Zealand, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022, the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, and then the Women’s Hundred.
Mandhana is currently on the England tour, where India is playing the limited-overs series. featuring 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs.
The WBBL 2022-23 is set to begin on October 13, and India's vice-captain is considering skipping the tournament so that she does not miss any matches for India due to a fitness issue.
Smriti Mandhana said in a virtual media interaction in England: “I think more than the mental part, it's about managing a little bit of physical part. Definitely, I'll be thinking about pulling out of WBBL because I don't want to miss out on playing for India or having any niggles when I play for India because I want to give my 100% when I play international cricket. So definitely, I'll be thinking about playing or pulling out of Big Bash.”
Speaking about the hectic schedule, she added, “I have been on the road for a while now. Post the one-day World Cup, I have been on the road with the domestic and the tournaments you mentioned (the Sri Lanka tour, the Commonwealth Games, and the Women's Hundred).
I just try to tell myself that because of Covid we haven't really played a lot of cricket and we really hoped that we came back and start playing cricket. And now, I can't be complaining that we have a lot of cricket on the platter. As a woman player, we always wanted this sort of schedule for us.”
Mandhana signed off by saying, “I'm really happy to be playing so much cricket and I've had my family over like my mom is over here and she was here for the Hundred as well. So that also helps to be in a good mindset and the teammates have been just amazing. It feels like we're a family together.”
(With PTI Inputs)