Derby, Sept 12: (PTI) India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is considering pulling out of the Women’s Big Bash League to manage her workload, allowing her to be in top shape for national duty.
Mandhana has been on the road since February when India played a bilateral series against New Zealand ahead of the ODI World Cup. After the Commonwealth Games last month, the southpaw stayed back in the UK for the Hundred and is now part of the bilateral series against hosts England.
“I think more than the mental part, it’s about managing a little bit of physical part,” Mandhana said in a virtual media interaction ahead of the second T20. “Definitely, I’ll be thinking about pulling out of WBBL because I don’t want to miss out on playing for India or having any niggles when I play for India because I want to give my 100% when I play international cricket. So definitely, I’ll be thinking about playing or pulling out of Big Bash.”
India’s women cricketers did not play for 12 months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mandhana, however, has no issues with the busier schedule that she is having to deal with.
“I have been on the road for a while now. Post the one-day World Cup, I have been on the road with the domestic and the tournaments you mentioned (the Sri Lanka tour, the Commonwealth Games, the Women’s Hundred).
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“I just try to tell myself that because of Covid we haven’t really played a lot of cricket and we really hoped that we came back and start playing cricket.
“And now, I can’t be complaining that we have a lot of cricket on the platter. As a woman player we always wanted this sort of schedule for us.
“I’m really happy to be playing so much cricket and I’ve had my family over, like my mom is over here and she was here for the Hundred as well. So that also helps to be in a good mindset and the team-mates have been just amazing. It feels like we’re a family together.”
