She was the second-leading run-scorer in World Cup 2025.
An early exit in the T20 World Cup 2024 forced the Indian great Smriti Mandhana to ask herself some tough questions about her game, and more importantly, about her fitness. By that time, she had realised that her fitness wasn’t good enough, and she requested her manager, Tuhin Mishra, to book a personal trainer outside the cricketing ecosystem.
Tuhin booked Srikanth Varma Madapalli, a Hyderabad-based strength & conditioning coach, who has previously worked with several athletes, including PV Sindhu. It was not easy for Srikanth to work with a cricket player, even though he had previously been with the Andhra Ranji Trophy team, but Mandhana’s dedication eased his task.
Gradually, Srikanth worked on her muscles and postures while also designing strength-training routines to improve agility. In an interview with Cricbuzz, Srikanth recalled how Smriti Madhana would do high-intensity training without complaint and never missed any training session.
“She took on even the most high-volume and high-risk workloads without any complaints. Never once did she miss a session, never once did she use pain as an excuse. I was myself [pleasantly] shocked. It helped that her approach was very positive and she was very determined.”
To prepare more extensively, Smriti Mandhana built a seven-acre training facility in Sangli, featuring six batting pitches prepared by the curators of the DY Patil Stadium, floodlights for night practice, indoor nets, a gym, a swimming pool, an ice bath, and a sauna. Additionally, she consulted with a nutritionist, who advised her to eliminate sugar from her diet, and she also employs a personal chef to accompany her on tours to maintain her fitness.
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Mandhana finally reaped rewards, and how. She had a fabulous tri-series in Sri Lanka, where she was the second-leading run-getter, with 264 runs at an average of 52.80 and a strike rate of 90.41 in four innings, including a century.
Later, the southpaw had a tremendous pre-World Cup series against Australia, accumulating 300 runs at an average of 100 and a strike rate of 138.25 in three innings, with two centuries. She followed it up with a magnificent World Cup, scoring the second-most runs (434), with two fifties and a century.
The T20 World Cup was an eye-opener for Mandhana, who was always one of the talented players but required more effort, especially in working on her body to unlock certain areas. Skills were never an issue, and once she worked on other crucial aspects, what followed was the biggest prize in cricket, that too at home.
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