Smriti Mandhana, the vice-captain of India, is thinking of skipping the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) to manage her workload and stay healthy for her international obligations.
The year 2022 for Mandhana began in February with an ODI tour of New Zealand ahead of the ODI World Cup in the same nation in March. Prior to the Indian team's ODI and T20I matches in Sri Lanka in June–July, domestic white-ball competitions in India were held in April and May following the big event.
Mandhana has been in the UK since since, first for the Women's Hundred to represent Southern Brave, who finished runners-up. Later in July and August, India played five T20Is in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where they finished with a silver medal.
The opener is presently participating in the international white-ball matches versus England, which got underway on September 10 with a T20I series. She believes that, given the volume of cricket, handling the physical aspect becomes crucial.
I can't be complaining that we don't have a lot of cricket on the table, Mandhana said in a virtual press conference on Monday. "I have been on the road for a while now post the World Cup, but I have just tried to tell myself that because of Covid we couldn't play much cricket. We really hoped we could come back and play a lot of cricket," Mandhana said.
I'll absolutely consider quitting the WBBL because I don't want to miss out on playing for India due to any niggles, she added. "As women cricketers, we always desired this sort of a schedule for us. But more than the mental component, it's about controlling the physical part.
According to the left-handed batter, competitions like The Hundred and the WBBL have helped Australia and England strengthen their reserves, and he expressed optimism that India may do the same in the future.
"If something similar happens to Indian cricket, that will help a lot," she added. "The Hundred and the Big Bash have been fantastic tournaments for their respective countries, as well as for the outside players. We also get to learn a lot, but these tournaments also add a lot to their bench strength.
On Saturday, England defeated India by nine wickets in the three-match T20I series. The vice-captain of India expressed her dissatisfaction with the defeat and added that her team hoped to fight back even harder for the rest of the series.
As a team, we didn't play the style of cricket we have in recent months, so we were undoubtedly disappointed (after the defeat in the first T20I), but we just saw it as one bad day, and we know that we have to come back harder and live up to the standards we have set for ourselves and our team,' said Mandhana.