Smriti Mandhana re-signs with Western Storm

“I enjoyed my time with Western Storm last year and I’m looking forward to coming back in 2019,” Mandhana said. “We played some outstanding cricket last year and hopefully we can go a little further this season and lift the trophy.”

Having scored 421 runs for Storm in 2018, Mandhana will be keen to carry on her love affair with England. The left-hander has widely credited her stint in England for making her a “more confident” player.

Quite obviously, Western Storm is delighted to have Mandhana back on board. She was one of the architects of Storm’s run to the final in 2018, and has since scored 441 runs at a strike rate of 132.83 in 16 T20Is.

“Everyone knows what Smriti is capable of and she was absolutely sensational for us last year,” Trevor Griffin, head coach of Western Storm said. “Her performances on the field were superb and really set the tone for what we were trying to achieve in each match. Mandhana not only brings to the table vast experience with bat, but she would be of great help to her captain as well with her valuable inputs. This time her aim would be to go one notch above and score 500 runs and also help the team win the coveted prize. Watch out other teams as Smriti is hungry as ever.”

The Indian T20I vice-captain will join Rachel Priest and Deepti Sharma as Western Storm’s overseas recruits.