Smriti Mandhana is expected to be part of the Indian women’s playing XI that will play its maiden day-night Test match against Australia later this year. The talented southpaw is the prime run-scorer for her team in the current squad along with the ver reliable Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur. The duo are also expected to be part of the playing XI as well.
Meanwhile, with time in hand for the Test match, Smriti Mandhana shared her excitement on day-night Test cricket. Speaking to Cricinfo, she said she never thought that the Indian women’s team will ever play day-night Test cricket.
“Frankly, when I used to watch day-night Tests of men, I actually never felt that I will be able to experience this moment – it is wrong to say ‘I’ at the moment – that the Indian team will be able to experience the moment. So, when it got declared, I was like – Oh, wow. That’s going to be crazy,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Mandhana as saying.
Mandhana further said that playing the maiden day-night Test match will be a great experience and that it is against Australia makes it even more special.
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Smriti Mandhana Excited About Playing Day-Night Tests
“Now that we are going to play a day-night match, we have lots of things to work on but there is a lot of excitement…excitement about being part of a day-night Test match, and that too in Australia, against Australia; it is always a good challenge. It’s going to be a great moment for the Indian women’s cricket team” Mandhana added.
India Women will first play against England in a multi-format series this June-July. Mithali Raj’s side will also be playing one Test match on this tour.
“When we got to know of the first Test, against England, the whole team was really excited. We all were looking forward to it. The last Test match I was part of was in 2014, so it’s been quite a long time, we haven’t gone out in whites, so that excitement of playing a Test match after nearly seven years was on another level,” said Mandhana.
Recently the BCCI announced the new annual contracts of women cricketers. Mandhana along with Harmanpreet Kaur and Poonam Yadav were enlisted in the Grade A category.
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