R Ashwin and Smriti Mandhana bat for women's edition of IPL

Indian men's cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin was recently in conversation with India's women's opener, Smriti Mandhana, in an interview for the former's YouTube channel.

While Ashwin is away on duty with the Indian Test contingent in England, Mandhana recently returned from the UK after playing in The Hundred.

During their conversation, Ashwin termed Mandhana a globetrotter while referring to her experience in tournaments like the Big Bash and the Hundred. The two players also spoke about the development of women's cricket in India, Mandhana's experience in the recent Test match against England and urged girls to take up the sport.

The duo also talked about the possibility of starting a women's edition of the IPL. Here's what Smriti Mandhana had to say:

"When the men's IPL started, there were the same number of states (in the men's and women's game) and the quality went higher as they played. IPL today isn't the same as it was 10 or 11 years ago. I think it's the same for women's cricket. I think we have enough girls in the states to start a 5-6 team tournament at least. We can then gradually build our way to an 8-team tournament."

While Mandhana was determined in her approach towards the women's game in India, she made it clear that there is no point in having the conversation about the depth of talent without action.

"In women's cricket, we have not had any competitions or any T20 tournaments, so how can we know if we have any depth or not? I think we have enough for a 5 or 6 team tournament so that we can eventually build towards an 8-team tournament. Until we start, we are not giving any exposure to girls to move to the next level," said Mandhana.

Ashwin was pretty excited about the possibility of a full-fledged women's tournament and believes that it would be a "100% success".

👏 @mandhana_smriti treated us to a very entertaining 78!She has now hit six 6️⃣s, the most in the women's competition 💥#TheHundred pic.twitter.com/Xh13xVu1x6

— The Hundred (@thehundred) August 11, 2021

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Smriti Mandhana withdrew from The Hundred

Smriti Mandhana in action for the Southern Brave Women - The Hundred

Smriti Mandhana has withdrawn from the remainder of the Women's Hundred 2021 competition for personal reasons. The Indian batswoman featured in seven matches for the Southern Brave before opting out of their last two fixtures, including the final.

Mandhana aggregated 167 runs in seven innings at an average of 27.83. She also registered her best score of 78, which came in the game against the Welsh Fire. Incidentally, this was the second-highest individual score in the Women's tournament. Mandhana is right behind her Indian compatriot, Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored a stellar unbeaten 92 earlier in the tournament.

Mandhana's withdrawal from the squad comes after some of the Indian women's contingent stayed back in England after their international duties to play in the new-ball tournament. She will be heading home to see her family ahead of India's tour of Australia, which is scheduled to get underway on September 19th.