‘My training is more important’: Smriti Mandhana on lessons from Dubai World Cup exit
Smriti Mandhana revealed that India’s early exit from the Dubai World Cup prompted a full self-reassessment of her training, nutrition and professional schedule.
The batter also said that she called her manager the morning after the team’s elimination and asked for greater control over her shoot commitments.
“We can’t do these things now for the next whatever years I play cricket. I can’t be shooting before… I would give you like seven days’ lapse, and then we’ll arrange our shoots. I’m a cricketer at the end. My training is more important than anything else.” Smriti said during an appearance on Raj Shamani’s Figuring Outpodcast.
Smriti also took up yoga and meditation, “I changed to yoga and meditation, which I was literally running away from… Then I went, I did yoga. I did meditation. It changed me a lot.” Despite having a previous avoidance towards them,she said the changes helped her become calmer.
Hours after the episode dropped on Sunday, Smriti struck a 50 for India in the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka, helping the team reclaim the title.
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She added that she has since learned not to dwell on mistakes. “If you keep crying and sitting on those mistakes, what are you getting out of it? You’re not improving yourself, you’re not getting better.”
Smriti further explained that her issue was not simply pressure during the match, but the way she built up the tournament in her mind. “I started getting really hard on myself… I can’t go wrong in these things. More than the pressure, it was the buildup for the tournament in my head and overthinking around it, and then losing my feel.”’
Her revised approach to this issue was, “Even if I’m not feeling fine, it is okay. These one, two, three words have changed a lot for me.”
Published on Sep 14, 2026