Playing domestic cricket a conscious decision: Smriti
Women’s Premier Leaguewinning Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Smriti Mandhana revealed that she had a role to play in bringing Luke Williams on board as head coach here on Monday.
Having played under Williams at Southern Brave in The Hundred, Smriti admitted that his was the first name that came to her mind when the management asked her for her preference.
“I've seen Luke Williams operate for the last few years at Southern Brave and have been following his work at Adelaide Strikers as well. When the management asked me if I had anyone in mind, the first name that came to my mind was that of Luke Williams,” Smriti told reporters.
The 27yearold explained that much of the planning for the WPL was done during The Hundred and the international window.
“Charlotte Edwards is my coach there but we'd speak from time to time on what we needed to do in the auction and other things. The Hundred is where we started tracking a few players. Sophie Molineux was one of them. We were playing international cricket then and my focus was entirely there but we would have the odd phone call to discuss. We're really big on playing like a family and the biggest part of the planning went into that.”
Smriti also said that her decision to skip the Women’s Big Bash League to play in the Indian domestic scene went a long way in her preparation for this edition of the WPL.
“Playing domestic cricket was a conscious decision. This helped as a player and as RCB captain. I had not played domestic for a few years and sometimes when you hear names, you don't recognise them or you don't get the full picture just by watching videos.
“We have a great scouting team. But when you're facing them, even as a fielder, you realise she has a spark. Also, for me as a player, I wanted to get used to Indian conditions,” she explained.