'Next one won't come': Smriti Mandhana gives 'World Cup' warning; cautions against living off past success

Indian women cricket team's vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said focusing on the World Cup win will not help the team prepare for the next one and added that the side still has areas to work on ahead of the T20 World Cup scheduled next year.

Mandhana returned to form in the fourth T20I against Sri Lanka in Trivandrum on Sunday after low scores in the first three matches. She scored 80 off 48 balls and also crossed 10,000 international runs during the knock. She became the fastest female cricketer to reach the mark 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 said the team remains a work in progress and that thinking too much about the recent ODI World Cup win will not help future results.

"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 said.

Mandhana also thanked the fans for their support during the ODI World Cup and said the team hopes to keep earning their backing.

"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 said.