Smriti Mandhana, on Monday, was named International Cricket Council’s (ICC) player of the year for her batting accomplishments in ODI and T20 in 2018.
The left-handed Indian opener, who won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year, was also the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year.
Smriti, 22, became the second Indian woman to win an ICC award after fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, who was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Year in 2007.
The Indian opener, who has also been named in the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year and the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year, scored 669 runs at an average of 66.90 in 12 ODIs and 622 runs at a strike-rate of 130.67 in 25 T20Is during the voting period, which ran from 1 January to 31 December 2018.
She also aggregated 421 runs in nine innings in her maiden Kia Super League season – the most runs by a player in as many innings in a women’s T20 league.
“The awards are pretty special because as a player when you score runs, you want the team to win, and then when you get acknowledged for your performances through these awards, it motivates you to work harder and do well for your team,” she told ICC.
“The century I scored in South Africa (in Kimberley) [135 off 129] was quite satisfying and then I had good home series against Australia and England.
“A lot of people used to say I do not score that much in India, so I had a point to prove to myself. That was something which really made me better as a player. And then, of course, the first four matches of the ICC Women’s World T20 were quite memorable.”
Australia’s Alyssa Healy won ICC Women’s T20I Player of the Year and England’s Sophie Ecclestone won ICC Women’s Emerging Player of the Year.
