Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana's unstoppable batting; Image Source: Cric Shots 

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The majority of the kids brought up in an Indian household know the sheer excitement of their family members while watching a cricket match played by their beloved players. “Out hain!” is an exclamation our ears are well familiar with, causing us to instantly know someone in the house is watching the televised broadcasting of a cricket match in the other room. Akin to this environment, a little girl named Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana was born on this day in 1996 to a family of die-hard cricket fans. On top of this, her father and brother were district-level players, making cricket flow deeply into her veins. With her world revolving around bats, balls and wickets, Smriti from a very young age became thoroughly inspired by her family and the game. Yet, this is not a story of an ordinary cricket lover, for Smriti’s tale takes a quick turn, embarking on a journey rarely taken by anyone.

> After watching her brother heroically play, Smriti got herself signed up for cricket trials, just at the naive age of 9!

 Apparently, she applied just for fun and was completely oblivious of the plans her future held for her. The days went by and Smriti began playing diligently. Two years after her trials and rigorous training, she was chosen for Maharashtra’s under 19 teams, and yes, you read it right, she was just 11 when this happened! Subsequently, she became a part of the senior team, and this force of nature debuted at a whopping 155 runs against Saurashtra.

Being an ardent cricket lover, academics was never something she gravitated towards, causing her to ultimately drop out of Science in school and a career in it. However, Smriti couldn’t bother less, for she soon realised fate had made some other plans for her, and it surely did. After being a part of the under-19 team, Mandhana scored three half-centuries for India Red in many games in the 2016 Women's Challenger Trophy, leading her team to ultimately win the cup in addition to being the top scorer in the same.

> In September of the same year, Mandhana along with Harmanpreet Kaur, became one of the first two Indians to be signed up for the Women's Big Bash League.

Amidst the cries, roars and utter madness of the audience in her match against Melbourne Renegades in January 2017, our beloved Mandhana injured her knee. However, no obstacle ever proves itself to be fatal towards her, for Smiriti jumped right back up, making this another instance of her unstoppable resilience.

Although she missed the World Cup Qualifier and the Quadrangular Series in South Africa due to her injury, she made 90 runs against England in one of the first matches and was bestowed with the title ‘Player of the Match'. Ultimately, Mandhana and her teammates managed to reach the finals, only to be met with a loss of 9 runs against England. Yet her comeback in 2018 was uncontested, scoring marvellously in the WT20I fixture, WODI, Kia Super League, ending her year as one of the leading scorers in most of her matches. The ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Year were titles given to none other than Mandhana in 2018.

> As if this weren’t monumental enough, she went on to become the youngest T20I captain for India in February 2019 when she was 22 years old, making history.

In the upcoming months, she was awarded ‘the International Woman Cricketer of the Year’ title and continued to win a series of matches. Now as a 24-year-old woman, she has a career so intricate and heavily awarded, it seems hard to imagine the skies she will reach in her future, for with her, there seems to be no limit. Today marks the 25th birthday of one of India’s youngest stars who has already made a lasting mark on international fields!

Being one of India’s youngest cricket stars, Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana has already broken all sorts of records in comparison to veterans. Coming from a background of cricket lovers, she has managed to make her family and India proud internationally.