New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana believes that thinking about the World Cup after a successful campaign will not help them win the next one and said that the Indian team has a lot of scope to improve as they prepare for the global T20 event scheduled for next year.

Mandhana played a prolific knock with the bat in the recently concluded fourth T20I against Sri Lanka in Trivandrum on Sunday after registering poor scores in the first three games. She scripted history by completing 10000 international runs on her way to a 48-ball 80, becoming the fastest female cricketer to reach the landmark and only the fourth overall after Charlotte Edwards, Mithali Raj, and Suzie Bates.

“In cricket, you have to start from zero. The scoreboard is always zero for zero. It’s never what you’ve done in the last match or previous series as well. Internal expectations for me in all three formats are very different. Of course, T20 is slightly in a way where you can’t be extremely hard on yourself after getting out because you’re playing at a pace where there are days when it’ll come off.

“There are days when it won’t. I’m really tough on myself with one-day cricket and test cricket because, of course, you have a lot of time. If you get out there, it feels like a sin for me. But there are days when you win the match for the country, but there are days when you won’t be able to get runs. But you have to take both things at your stride because you can’t overthink. It’s just quick turnover,” Mandhana said in a video shared by the BCCI.

She also stated that the current team, which is preparing for next year’s T20 World Cup, is a ‘work in progress’, and that continuing to think about the recent ODI World Cup win will in no way help the team succeed in the upcoming mega spectacle and would only hamper their preparations.

“Like, if I had thought a lot about the first three matches, we only had one day before this one. So it’s about just prepping your mind around how you want to go about your cricket. The One Day World Cup was the biggest thing for women’s cricket. And we did take off that one. So it’s a big, big win. But again, you know, you can’t be thinking about only successes.

“We’ve had times when we could have won matches, but we couldn’t this year. And again, this team being this young, we are always a work in progress. There’s going to be a World Cup, but it’s a work in progress. If you keep thinking about the World Cup, the next one won’t come. If I had to review it more critically, I would give it 7 out of 10. We have many areas to improve as a team,” she stated.

Mandhana thanked the fans for showering love and support throughout their 50-over World Cup campaign and hopes to make them proud and receive similar backing throughout.

“We keep talking about it in terms of where we want to see ourselves fitness-wise, feeling-wise, and running-wise. And then, of course, power hitting now with T20s. So yeah, I mean, all in those things, execution of bowling plans. I had spoken about bowlers.

“But I feel as an Indian team, all the fans who’ve supported us throughout the year, especially the One Day World Cup and post that kind of support we’ve got, I feel, I mean, it’s just been a fantastic year for women’s cricket. And I hope we just keep making them proud, and I hope they keep turning up and support us,” she concluded.

–IANS

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