Smriti Mandhana, India’s bright opening batter in the women’s Match, could be given the captaincy role after the future Women’s World Cup judges former head coach WV Raman.
The former coach-led India to the T20 World Cup final in Australia last year before being lately replaced by Ramesh Powar.
Smriti Mandhana has evolved into one of India’s important players since getting her debut in 2013. Under Raman’s teaching, Mandhana also had a stint as a skipper when India played England in the T20I series in 2019.
While Raman thinks that Mandhana has the mindset and smarts to become the skipper of the Indian service, he believes a decision should not be made in a hurry. He also recommended that the opening batter should be the ideal replacement to the likes of Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur later the Women’s World Cup.
Here’s what Raman had to answer:
“But this is not the right time for handing over captaincy because of the upcoming World Cup. So just to hold on to whatever is happening in the recent past and perhaps, after the World Cup, regardless of the results, I think the captaincy can be handed over to Smriti Mandhana.”
Maiden Test ton ✅
First #TeamIndia batter to score a ton in women's Tests in Australia ✅
Drop an emoji in the comments 👇 & describe @mandhana_smriti's superb hundred. #AUSvIND
Follow the match 👉 https://t.co/seh1NVa8gu pic.twitter.com/aL6wu59WLl
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 1, 2021
Captaincy has got zero to do with age: WV Raman
The former head coach went on to continue that Mandhana’s age shouldn’t be a constituent when choosing who should lead the Indian team. At 25, Mandhana has got lots of practice not only in the Indian service but also from different franchise leagues all over the world.
“Captaincy has got nothing to do with age but I am convinced that Mandhana can be the captain. She is a good reader of the game and has already played a few years of cricket.”
Raman decided that, with Mandhana beginning as a young skipper, it would also be great for the young team and subtract the captain to lead for a range of some years. He said:
“It can be a good time and giving captaincy to a younger cricketer means they can lead the side for a stretch for some years.”
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