India women’s team vice-captain and opener Smriti Mandhana’s consistent dominance in the Powerplay has helped Harmanpreet Kaur & Co emerge as strong contenders at the ICC ODI World Cup, starting with the match against Sri Lanka in Guwahati today.
Mandhana’s Sangli-based childhood coach Anant Tambvekar tells mid-day that the power-packed ability has come through specific strength training sessions. “Actually, her trainer Srikanthvarma Madapalli, who was badminton champion PV Sindhu’s fitness coach earlier, is working hard on her [Mandhana’s] fitness for over a year. He has planned specific workouts to strengthen her muscles and has held sessions accordingly. You may have observed that it has benefited her. Initially, her sixes landed across 60 to 65 yards, but now she clears 70 to 80 yards with ease. She’s had this fearless approach earlier too, but with technique and power, her overall strength has improved enormously,” Tambvekar told mid-day on Monday.
In her last three ODIs against seven-time World Cup-winners Australia, Mandhana’s scores are 125 (in Delhi), 117 (New Chandigarh) and 58 (New Chandigarh) recently. The attacking left-hander was the top run-getter in the five-match T20I away series versus England with 221 runs, including a 62-ball 112 at Nottingham last June. In the three-match ODI series against England last July, she scored 115 in tough English conditions. She is just 112 runs short of reaching 5,000 ODI runs.
“Recently, ahead of India’s England tour, we had a few sessions in Sangli at her farmhouse, where we have six different types of pitches, including red-soil and black-soil wickets, besides a facility to practice under lights. We discussed and analysed her performance after every series and accordingly planned practice sessions. You may notice the addition of the slog sweep to her armory. Her mindset is strong, but we worked on converting the 70-plus scores into big daddy hundreds, and are getting results,” added Tambvekar, who has been coaching Mandhana since 2012.
Winning this World Cup is Mandhana’s sole focus, said Tambvekar: “It’s her dream. She wants India to win this World Cup because we have a very strong team. I want her to approach it like just any other normal game and express herself. I’m confident she will do wonders,” Tambvekar signed off.