
"Calm and Focused": Smriti Mandhana reveals shift in mindset of Indian team
Aug 11, 2025
New Delhi [India], August 11 : With just 50 days remaining until India hosts the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025, Indian opener Smriti Mandhana opened up on the changing mindset within Indian cricket over the past few years.
"The mindset has changed over the last two or three years. There's a calmness with which I want to go about the field. Our whole team is heading in that direction. We know where we want to work hard. And when we enter the field, we know we've just got to implement," Smriti Mandhana said, according to the ICC website.
Recently, the Indian Women's Team won the T20 and ODI series against the Three Lions in England. They defeated the hosts 2-1 in the T20Is and 3-2 in the one-dayers.
Mandhana also added that the side was focusing on staying in the present and not looking to achieve specific landmarks.
"Whenever we've done well (on the field), everything else has taken care of itself. We are preparing really, really well. We've had a preparation camp. We've had an England tour. We've got one tour ahead of the World Cup. That's the only thing we are thinking about," she added.
Mandhana, who featured in her first Women's Cricket World Cup in 2017, also had fond memories from the tournament, where she scored 232 runs, including a century against the West Indies.
"We all remember that World Cup. Not just my century, we remember each other's innings as well. To witness that 171 (from Harmanpreet Kaur). Everyone came together in that World Cup," Mandhana added.
"Not just the World Cup but what followed. The welcome we got back from the fans was the way things changed after that World Cup."
India will be hoping to go one step further at this year's tournament than they did in 2017, when they made it to their second Women's Cricket World Cup Final, missing out narrowly to England in a thrilling finish at Lord's.
The Women's World Cup will kick off on September 30, with India featuring in the tournament opener against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru.