Women’s Big Bash League 2024: Adelaide Strikers sign Smriti Mandhana

Indian women’s cricket team’s vice-captain and mainstay Smriti Mandhana has been signed on a pre-draft overseas contract by Adelaide Strikers for the upcoming season of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

WBBL is Australia’s premier T20 domestic tournament and it runs alongside the men’s edition of the Big Bash League.

This will be Smriti’s fourth team in the Women’s Big Bash League after having previously played for Brisbane Heat (2016-17), Hobart Hurricanes (2018-19) and Sydney Thunder (2021).

The left-hander did not play in the 2022 edition as she wanted to keep her workload under check and in the next year (2023) she opted out of the player draft keeping in mind the Indian domestic season.

The franchise took to social media to make the announcement of signing the Indian mainstay.

Luke Williams is the head coach of Adelaide Strikers and the Indian southpaw and the head coach have worked together previously.

Williams was the head coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women’s Premier League and the combination of Williams and Smriti worked wonders in the 2024 season as the duo led RCB to their first franchise title in India.

Smriti and Williams have also worked together at Southern Brave in The Hundred, England’s premier domestic T20 tournament.

Smriti said he always looked forward to playing in Australia and added that she was excited to be a part of Adelaide Strikers. “I always look forward to playing in Australia, and I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to a team with a history of success like the Strikers,” Smriti said.

She said that she was thrilled to continue working with Williams and added that she is looking forward to building on the previous rewarding experiences the duo share, referring to the title-winning run in the Women’s Premier League. “I am thrilled to continue working with Luke (Williams). Our previous experiences together have been so rewarding, and I’m looking forward to building on that,” she added.

Smriti Mandhana averages 28.86 in women’s T20Is at a strike rate of 122.51. She has scored 26 half-century knocks.

Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma are also a part of the WBBL draft scheduled on September 1.