I like to dominate pace - Smriti Mandhana on her first century of ICC Women's ODI World Cup 2025

The shackles finally came off for Smriti Mandhana as she stormed through to her first century in the ongoing ICC Women’s ODI World Cup. She toppled a handful of records along the way, registering her 14th ODI century as that powered India to a formidable stand against the White Ferns.

Mandhana was adjudged as the Player of the Match for her scintillating 109-run knock, which was also a crucial part of the record-breaking 212-run opening partnership with Pratika Rawal that set the tone perfectly for Team India in the must-win battle. Talking at the post-match presentation, Mandhana opened up at length about her knock against the White Ferns while heaping praise on her stand with Pratika.

Smriti said, “Big relief in terms of qualifying for the knockouts. The last three games were really tough. We thought we played some good cricket, but we could not end up winning. We are very relieved today. I think Pratika deserves this (the award) as much as I do. So, I'm a little surprised with this.”

Shedding light on her recent form and the innings against New Zealand, Mandhana said, “I like pace more than spin. I like to dominate pace. But it was an important game too, in the first 3-4 overs there were nerves trying to give a good start, but I saw the scoreboard and we were like 3 overs and 5 runs, I was like we can't do that.”

She further added, “I just said, just back yourself and try to play the ball. The first three games did not go my way, especially the second and the third one, after getting into my 20s, I would like myself to play a longer innings but I was getting out, in the World Cup, you have to give a lot of things at first. You have to understand that if you're feeling good, you've come off a good form. You just need to keep practising and not complicating. So, that's the only thing which I kept telling myself.”

She concluded with a message about the partnership, adding, “We've been asked this question for the last eight odd months now. I don't think both of us can answer that aptly. But I just feel like we both are pretty similar people in terms of just doing the job. We don't talk a lot. In middle only, we discuss how many runs do we need to get and all of that stuff. Pretty similar games. Of course, she's a good anchor and really allows me to play my natural game. And when she gets going, I could chip into the anchor role. That thing really works. We understand that, when one person is going, so we can just rotate the strike.”