Follow UsSmriti Mandhana had a year to remember in 2024, scoring a truckload of runs across formats, scaling new heights, and breaking multiple records en route. The left-handed Indian opener scored 1602 runs, the most for any player in women’s cricket in a calendar year, and five centuries, the joint-most for any player in a year.
Also Read: Smriti Mandhana's 2024: the best year in women's cricket
But one missing thing was the national team's ‘silverware,’ which made 2024 a ‘sweet and bitter’ experience.
“So, the year 2024 for us was sweet and bitter in a lot of ways,” Smriti told India Today.
“So, I wouldn't say that, you know, sometimes you just, it's not an individual sport, right? It's a team sport. So, I wouldn't say 2024 was my best year because we did not win the World Cup trophy, and I would say, whenever we win the World Cup trophy, that would be the best year for me individually and as a team," she added.
Despite a terrible start in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, India had a real opportunity to make it to the competition's semi-final stage in their last group to topple New Zealand to the semi-final.
However, they stumbled at the last moment by nine runs against Australia to crash out of the competition and extend their trophy-less run to another year.
"I mean, for sure, the World Cup would have gone differently for us as a team, and for me individually, I would have picked for sure 2024 as my best year, but I always believe that something is really special to us as the Indian team is that World Cup. So, we had a disappointing one," Smriti said.
So, what can India do differently, considering another ODI World Cup trophy is around the corner in 2025?
"I think we need to really keep things simple. I think all I can say is, as a team, I think we really want to do well. Everyone who's coming in also has a lot of energy. But the only thing I would say is that at this moment, talking about too far ahead, I think I'm not that person, I've never been,” she said.
“So I would rather focus at the moment on what I have to do today in the gym, what I have to practice tomorrow and do those things right, because when you do those things right it is when you can go on the ground and play a certain way," she added.