ICC Women's World Cup: Smriti Mandhana flummoxes reporter with fitting reply
Taunton: The Indian women’s cricket team’s new kid on the block Smriti Mandhana has been smashing more or less everything hurled at her out of the park, in the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup, in England.
The 20-year-old opener smashed 90 from 72 balls against England on Monday, followed by match-winning 106 not out off 108 balls against the West Indies in a seven-wicket victory, to guide her side to two successive victories in the World Cup.
"Do you think India can win the tournament?"
— Henry Moeran (@henrymoeranBBC) June 29, 2017
"What? You don't?"@mandhana_smriti as good in the press conference as in the middle. pic.twitter.com/zNMZKF4Buv
However, a recent press conference also revealed that Smriti is as quick with her wits, as she is with the bat.
“Do you think India can win the World Cup?” Smriti was asked during the press conference.
"What? You don't?" she retorted in a classic display of wits.
WWC 2017: #WIvsIND - Smriti Mandhana's match-winning 106* https://t.co/6Xoz1jePNv
— DC Sports (@_DCSports) July 2, 2017
This is not the first time that a member of the Indian women’s cricket team has stumped a journalist in the last couple of weeks.
When asked about who her favourite men’s cricketer was, Mithali Raj fittingly replied, "Do you ask the same question to a male cricketer? Do you ask them who their favourite female cricketer is?
"I have always been asked who's your favourite cricketer but you should ask them who their favourite female cricketer is."
Superb response from Indian skipper Mithali Raj. Asked by a reporter who her favourite male player is: "Would you ask a man that?" 👊🻠#WWC17 pic.twitter.com/RqgVLzXp46
— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) June 22, 2017
The India skipper went on to explain that the dynamics of women’s cricket is a lot different from that of the men’s game. However, she also went on to praise the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for taking the initiative to popularise the women’s game in India.
"There's a lot of difference because we are not a regular on television. Now the BCCI has made an effort that the last two home series have been televised and social media has improved a lot of it but there is a still a lot of catch-up to do in terms of recognition," she said.
"Men's cricket sets the bar. We are always trying to reach where they set the standard. All of us follow men's cricket because we want at some point that women's cricket would be up there," she further said. "All of us at some point have been coached by a male cricketer. I strongly believe that they get a lot of intensity into the training sessions. They are very hard taskmasters."
