Smriti Mandhana bags individual multi-year deal with Nike after Bata success

Smriti Mandhana is arguably the best batter of the current era of the Indian Women's Cricket team and has given good starts to the Indian team on countless occasions and has also been a match-winner as well. The southpaw, who made her international debut in 2013, has quickly gone on to establish herself as an indispensable member of the Indian Women's cricket team.

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Smriti Mandhana announces her association with Nike on Instagram

Mandhana is among the most sought-after female sports personalities in the country, with a massive fan base. With her ever-growing success and popularity, brands have also been wanting to have a piece of the cricketer. In 2018, Mandhana was appointed as brand ambassador for Bata’s 'Power' sportswear brand.

Now, sportswear giant Nike has also signed an individual multi-year deal with Mandhana. The news of the Mandhana Nike deal was revealed by the cricketer herself on her Instagram account. The 24-year old announced her association with Nike by posting a photo on her Instagram handle. Mandhana wrote that she is extremely delighted to be a part of the Nike family.

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The Mandhana Nike deal is another great addition to the batswoman's brand endorsement list. Besides Nike, Mandhana has five other endorsements under her belt: Hero MotoCorp (bat sponsorship), Bata’s sportswear brand POWER, Amstrad India, ITC Vivel and Alcon Laboratories.

Smriti Mandhana career stats

The Mandhana career stats make for a staggering read, especially in the ODI format. The dynamic batswoman has represented India in 51 ODIs where she has scored 2025 runs at an impressive average of 43.1 to go with four centuries and 17 fifties. In 75 T20Is, Mandhana has 1716 runs to her name at an average of 25.2 which includes 12 fifties. She has only played two Tests where she has scored 81 runs at an average of 27 to go with one fifty.

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Smriti Mandhana hometown and journey to the Indian Team

The Smriti Mandhana hometown is Sangli in Maharashtra is where her cricketing journey began. Cricket was in her blood her father and elder brother had played cricket at the district level for Sangli and she was inspired to take up the game after watching her brother play at the Maharashtra state Under-16s tournaments.

At the age of nine, she was selected in Maharashtra's Under-15 team and when Mandhana was 11, she was picked for the Maharashtra Under-19s team and there was no looking back from then on as she grabbed all the opportunities that had come her way as she made her debut in for India in April 2013. 

The star batter was an integral member of the Indian squad that had reached the finals of ICC Women's World Cup 2017 and ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 and the ICC Women's T20 2018 where the Women In Blue had finished as the semi-finalists. However, the Sangli cricketer failed to make her bat do the talking in both the World Cup final matches as she was dismissed early. India went on to lose the tournament decider on both occasions. Mandhana is currently the fourth-ranked ODI batter in ICC Women's ODI Rankings and is the only Indian in the top-five category as of now. 

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SOURCE: SMRITI MANDHANA INSTAGRAM