New Delhi: This year, the Indian women’s cricket team engraved its name in the history books. They became ODI World Cup winners and it has unlocked in them the urge to recreate the run again, across formats and tournaments. They want to make winning a habit, several players said. For a team hoping to win consistently, the role model is there within their own dressing room.
Smriti Mandhana has long been the constant – the assuring figure on whom the team can lean on. She crossed 10,000 international runs on Sunday while scoring a match-winning 80 in the fourth T20I against Sri Lanka. It is not merely a landmark achieved through longevity, but the result of a batting career built on repeatability and a stubbornness in not letting the standards drop.
As she played a winning hand in Thiruvananthapuram, it reminded everyone of the incredible year she has had, and how relentlessly consistent she has been over the years.
The numbers are staggering. She is the fastest and youngest to 10,000 international runs in women’s cricket. She is only the fourth woman to reach the mark, emulating Mithali Raj, Charlotte Edwards (ENG) and Suzie Bates (NZ). She has scored the joint most international centuries (17). In 2025, she scored the most international runs in a calendar year (1703). She also scored the most runs by an Indian in a single ODI Women’s World Cup (434).
Yet statistics alone don’t encapsulate her impact. What truly sets Smriti apart is how her excellence also pushes others around her to raise their level. Her dependability can also weigh heavy, but she refuses to term it pressure.
Ahead of the ODI World Cup, she played down the notion that the team heavily depended on her, no matter what the numbers said. Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Pratika Rawal and Harmanpreet Kaur had all scored centuries, she highlighted.
During the marquee event, when she failed to deliver, others felt the need to step up. And while she sees this as indicative of a shifting culture, Smriti still is at the centre of India’s batting hopes.
For years, the team survived on isolated brilliance. A standout knock here, an inspired spell there. With the bar raised high, players look at individual performances as the norm rather than an exception.
Starting from zero
Smriti’s mindset ensures she is always ready. “I mean, that’s never the case where we are like, we’ve done it before,” she told bcci.tv after surpassing the 10,000-run mark. “In cricket, you have to start (every innings) from zero again. The scoreboard is always zero for zero. It’s never what you’ve done in the last match or previous series.”
This philosophy explains her longevity.
After India’s loss to England at the World Cup – the third loss on the trot – Smriti blamed her own failure in taking the team past the finish line. Criticising and demanding accountability from herself also reflects her leadership quality.
Consistency, not perfection
While T20 cricket allows more batting freedom, Smriti assumes more responsibility in the other formats. “I’m really tough on myself with ODI and Tests because you have a lot of time. If you get out, it feels like a sin,” she said. “There are days when you’ll win the match for the country, there are days when you won’t. You have to take both in your stride.”
India have always had talent, but they are now building reliability, a process accelerated by Smriti’s performances. “You can’t overthink,” she said. “It’s just quick turnover.”
Transition between formats requires mental recalibration. Smriti did struggle in the first three T20Is of this series, or in the initial World Cup matches. But never count her out.
After months of ODIs, switching to T20s wasn’t seamless. “Mentally, it’s a different space,” she said on Sunday after her 48-ball 80. “I had plans, I knew what to expect but in the first few games I probably gave my wicket away trying to execute shots I’d been practicing.”
Her record 162-run partnership with Shafali Verma is a reminder of what happens when she is in the zone. “Batting with Shafali is always a treat for the eyes,” Smriti said. “The way she started made my job a lot easier.”
It’s camaraderie as well as transferring her standard to younger teammates. It’s Shafali in T20Is and Rawal in ODIs. Smriti and Rawal have stitched many record stands in ODIs. Rawal herself scored 976 runs in 2025 – third in the list of most ODI runs in a year.
Smriti, the India vice-captain, says India can’t let recent success allow complacency to seep in. “You can’t be thinking only about successes. We’ve had times this year when we could have won matches but couldn’t. With this team this young, we’re always a work in progress.”
Richa Ghosh, in the same video, said, “There is so much to learn from her,” an acknowledgement of a grind that urges others to push their own boundaries.
