Smriti Mandhana named ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2021

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially announced the winner of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in the year gone by, and while there were many talented individuals who proved their mettle on the cricket field, India’s Smriti Mandhana bagged the top honor.

Mandhana had a dream 2021 as she amassed 855 runs in 22 international appearances, including a century and five half-centuries averaging 38.86. The southpaw has also been included in the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year as she was India’s highest scorer in the shortest format, scoring 255 runs at an average of 31.87 and a strike rate of 131.44 that included two fifties from nine games. She is the only Indian to be included in the list.

Smriti Mandhana’s best performances in 2021

While the Indian women’s team did not enjoy 2021, the star opener ensured that she gave the team something to cherish with her consistent individual performances. She could only manage one century in the year but more importantly, it came in the all-important pink-ball Test match against Australia at the Cararra Oval.

She scored 127 in the one-off Test match and also went on to bag the Player of the Match award. The contest ended in a stalemate. It needs to be noted that this was the Indian women’s team’s first-ever pink-ball appearance and first Test after 2014.

She then went on to score 86 (second ODI) and her second 50 in the shortest format. Mandhana looked in great touch during the Indian eves’ tour to England with a vital 78 in the first innings of the one-off Test match and followed it up brilliantly with 49 and a half-century in the ODI and the T20I series that followed.

The 2021 ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year could go a long way in boosting her morale as she is a key member of India in the upcoming Women’s World Cup 2022, which will be played in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3. The southpaw, who had played an instrumental role in the Indian team making the final of the 2017 edition, would be hoping to help the Women in Blue go a step further. India will kick off their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at Bay Oval on March 6.