Smriti Mandhana speaks about her maiden T20I Century being ‘Pretty special’ for her as it’s not her ‘Natural’ format

To India’s stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana, smashing her maiden T20I century against England was “pretty special” as the shortest format of the game is not one of her strong points.

Smriti Mandhana scored her first T20I century in her 149th match. This was a 62-ball-112, which was accompanied by 15 fours and 3 sixes. Mandhana’s ton helped India reach 210 runs. The team eventually won the match by 97 runs in the opening match.

“It’s a nice feeling because this format is something which, for me as a batter, I need to keep pushing and keep improving. It’s not a very natural format for me,” Mandhana said during the post-match press conference.

Speaking about her approach with the bat, Smriti said, “I like to time the ball; (I’m) not a big hitter of the ball and, for the last six years, it’s always (been) a work in progress and it’s still a work in progress.”

Labelling this century as being special to her, She said, “To actually get a hundred in this format, getting it before in Test cricket and one-day cricket which are more suited to my batting, but getting it in this format is pretty special because it’s not one of my strengths.’