Exclusive Interview with Smriti Mandhana: "Winning the Wormsley Test against England in 2014 is the best feeling I have ever had on the field yet"

In deep focus: “I like to watch the seam of the new ball for about 2-3 minutes.Just sit alone and be quiet,”

Australia, at the moment, is the only cricketing nation, which has a separate Men's and Women's franchise-based T20 Leagues.

The Indian Premier League is perhaps the biggest franchise-based T20 competition in the world, which in recent times has seen women commentators join the commentary panel.

Would help us if we had an IPL-like league for women as well: Mandhana

Mandhana felt a similar league for women on such lines would benefit cricketers both from India as well as overseas.

"Definitely. I feel both the Indian and the foreign cricketers would benefit from such a league.

"Some of the Indians could learn from someone like a Meg Lanning and even some of the foreign players could learn from the likes of Mithali Raj and others. We have seen it help the Men, it could do the same for the women as well,"

On a broader viewpoint, it certainly is a bit of a cause for concern that the Women's team do not play as much Test cricket as some of the other countries do and speaking about the issue, the left-hander felt that the decision on that rested on the administrators, but personally, she would want to wear the whites more often for India.

"That decision( to play more Tests) depends upon on the ICC and the BCCI. I think the ICC wants the Women cricketers to play more limited-overs cricket.

"As a player, I would love to play more Tests because playing a Test match is a wonderful feeling. Stepping onto the field wearing the Indian whites is a really good feeling. I am fortunate to play two Tests, but we have not played a Test after that.

"It would be great to play Tests, perhaps after the World Cup," she said.

While 2017 may not have begun in the brightest manner for her with an injury forcing her to miss the Women's World Cup Qualifiers, Mandhana had another reason to feel overjoyed about.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the ICC announced a Women's Team of the Year and ahead of the some of the stalwarts, Mandhana found her name in the XI.

Admitting that the news came as a 'total surprise' for her, she said that it felt like a dream come true for her and wished to be part of the side in the future as well.

"That came as a total surprise for me. I didn't expect to be selected and was even unaware that they had a team like that. Prior to that, I had endured a slightly bad run, but barring that, it was a good 12 months for me.

"It felt like a dream come true to be picked in that side and I hope to feature again in the side in future as well," she said.

“Right now, my main aim is to get fit for the World Cup. After a surgery, it takes time to comeback. I am on crutches right now. I hope to get fit for that and score runs for India there.

"For the team, I think doing well in the World Cup and winning the crown is the aim," she concluded.