India stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana has revealed how Radha Yadav and her other teammates spurred her into scoring her first T20I century 鈥 which she achieved against England on Saturday (June 28). Mandhana said the girls were 鈥榬eally hard鈥 on her for her inability to convert her previous 30 half-centuries in the format, and she had to promise Radha that she鈥檇 try her best to get one in the five-match series.
The left-handed opener smashed 112 off 62 balls, including 15 fours and three sixes, to help India beat England by 97 runs and take a 1-0 lead. It was the highest score by an Indian in the format, and made Mandhana the 2nd Indian batter after Harmanpreet Kaur to score a century in women鈥檚 T20Is and the first from the country to go past three figures in every format.
鈥淭hree days back, me and Radha Yadav, we were having a conversation,鈥 Mandhana said after the match, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. 鈥淭hese girls are really hard on me sometimes. She was telling me, 鈥業t鈥檚 high time you get a century in T20Is, you keep getting out in the 70s, 80s and you are not doing justice to your talent and all of that stuff.鈥
鈥淚 was like, 鈥榦kay, Radha, I鈥檒l see now, this time I鈥檒l try and get it in one of the matches in the series鈥.鈥
鈥淚 did not think that it would come in the first match, but the finger was towards her, that 鈥榮ee, I got it today,’鈥 Mandhana said. 鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 pretty frustrating to get out in the 70s and 80s over the last ten years and when you had that opportunity to take the team through. So I鈥檓 happy that I could stay and take the team to the 19th and the 20th over.鈥
India reached a massive 210/5 in the first innings before Shree Charani鈥檚 four-wicket haul bowled out the hosts for 113, sealing their biggest loss in the format.
Mandhana, who captained the side because Harmanpreet Kaur wasn鈥檛 100 percent fit, also revealed that she had started preparing the plans with her bowlers before the confirmation came.
鈥淗arman was getting assessed over last night and this morning and there were a few scans to be done,鈥 Mandhana said. 鈥淲e had a 50-50 idea, so I had a chat with the bowlers around what the plans are and I was pretty ready last night but the confirmation came today.鈥
鈥淎s a batter, it doesn鈥檛 change a lot. You don鈥檛 think that you are captaining and you bat differently. Whenever you have the bat in hand, you have to do the job for the team regardless of the position you are in, so I鈥檓 really happy that I could contribute today,鈥 she added.