Batting first in T20s is a disadvantage: Smriti Mandhana's bizarre claim

Smriti Mandhana has been playing international cricket for India's women's team since 2013. Now she is amongst the senior players in the side and has been a consistent run-getter.

She was in fine form in the recently concluded series against South Africa at home. The women's team clean swept the Protean women's team across formats. They won the ODI series 3-0, won the one-off Test match, and drew the three-match T20I series.

Mandhana ended up as the top-scorer in the ODI series with 343 runs from three matches at an average of 114.33. She ended up as the second-highest run-getter in the T20I series and scored 149 in the first innings of the one-off Test match in Chennai.

Ahead of India's campaign opener in the Asia Cup 2024 against Pakistan, Mandhana spoke about her mindset about batting and how she approaches an innings while chasing. She also spoke about batting first being a disadvantage in T20 cricket.

My Mindset Is To Play According To The Merit Of The Ball: Smriti Mandhana

"My mindset is just to play according to the merits of the ball. Sometimes you bat first or you bat second. Definitely, when you bat second, you have that score in front of you, and you can calculate your risks, and you can go for it. In the first innings, I feel in T20, it's a bit of a disadvantage that you don't know what you have to get to. But I think not to complicate it too much, just play according to the merits of the ball. It's very simple, just keep it simple. I feel like that," Mandhana told Star Sports.

Unfortunately, the star Indian batter does not have the best record against Pakistan in T20I cricket. She has scored 187 runs in 18 matches at an average of 26.71. Her top score of 63* came during the Common Wealth Games in Birmingham in July 2022. However, she has been in red-hot form with the bat of late and will want to keep it going against Pakistan.

India have won the Asia Cup seven times out of the previous eight editions. The team is the defending champions of the tournament having beaten Sri Lanka in the final in 2022. Against Pakistan, India have a very favourable match-up winning 11 out of the 14 T20Is. Harmanpreet Kaur who led India to Asia Cup glory in 2022 will lead the team in the 2024 edition as well.

India and Bangladesh are the only two teams to win the Asia Cup. Pakistan and Sri Lanka the two other major women's teams from Asia have never won the tournament yet. Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian skipper is keen on creating a comfortable environment ahead of this big tournament.

"I feel like there should be such an atmosphere in the team that everyone enjoys each other's company, and can share their feelings with each other. And when the atmosphere is like that, the team's performance becomes good as well. So that is my motive as a leader, that all of us feel comfortable with each other.

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