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'My Parents Were Taunted' - Smriti Mandhana Opens Up On Her Early Days Hardships On KBC

image-lqmbzuk0Smriti Mandhana and Ishan Kishan on KBC (X.com)

Smriti Mandhana has become the epitome of Indian women’s cricket with her exhilarating talent and unparalleled success. She made her debut back in 2013 and went on to scale new heights as her career progressed.

She has close to 6000 runs across all formats, which includes six hundreds and 49 fifties. Undoubtedly, Smriti has succeeded the likes of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami to become the face of Indian women’s cricket.

Having said that, the journey to excellence and glory was a tough one for Smriti Mandhana. Hailing from a small town in Maharashtra, Sangli, the 27-year-old was first introduced to cricket by her father and brother, who both represented the state at some level in their time.



Smriti Credits Her Parent For Her Success!

Recently, Smriti appeared as a guest on a quiz-based reality show KBC along with Men’s cricketer Ishan Kishan and shared her orderly. She revealed that since her father, Shrinivas Mandhana, was disallowed by his parents to pursue his passion for the sport, he dreamt of seeing his kids represent India.

"My father and brother were both into cricket since childhood. It was dad’s dream to… His family didn’t grant him permission to pursue the sport. He wanted both his children to play cricket and at least one of them to represent India.” Smriti said on KBC.

Thus, her father pushed her and her brother to take up competitive cricket. However, the journey was difficult as she had to play with the opposite gender for a while, as not many girls took up the cricket as a profession back in the past.

“When I began playing women’s cricket, I mostly had to practice with boys – because not too many girls played cricket back then," she added.

Moreover, Smriti revealed how her parents were ridiculed for allowing her to play an outdoor sport. She added that relatives and neighbours advised her parents to get her off the field or she would get tanned, and then no one would want to marry her in the future.

"My parents were taunted by the people – ‘If she gets tanned, no one will marry her.’ But the best thing was, they never let me bear the brunt. They allowed me to play.” Smriti concluded.

However, the left-handed batter credited her kins for not paying heed to the pressure and granting her the freedom to pursue what she loved.

As per the batter, her parents shaped her career and personality by not generalizing or differentiating on the basis of gender.

Undoubtedly, a special talent like Smriti Mandhana is born once in a generation. She is an inspiration and also has set the bar high for the next generation to follow.