Damn The Odds With Smriti Mandhana At NID
Smriti Mandhana met students at NID, Bengaluru for an interactive session powered by Lenovo x Intel
What does it take to follow your passion when very few people around you believe it can become a career?
World Champion Smriti Mandhana met students at National Institute of Design, Bengaluru for a conversation about passion, discipline, injuries, focus and using technology in everyday training. The session included three parts: a host interaction, a student Q&A and a creative design challenge judged by Smriti herself.
Here is what happened on campus.
Falling In Love With Batting Before Dreaming Of India
Smriti shared that her cricket journey began simply by watching her brother play.
At the time, she did not even know women’s cricket existed professionally. What stayed with her instead was the sound of the bat connecting with the ball and the joy of playing the game. She laughs, “The only thing I always joke around is from the time I was in my mom’s stomach that I only heard cricket.”
She told students that playing for India came much later. In the beginning, it was always about love for the sport.
Growing Up As The Only Girl On The Ground
Coming from Sangli, a small place in Maharashtra, Smriti often trained with boys while growing up.
She recalled that while players were supportive, there were small battles she had to face regularly. Hitting a boundary often meant the next delivery would be faster and more aggressive.
But she saw these moments as part of learning how to prove herself again and again.
Choosing Passion Despite Expectations From Society
Students at NID spoke about pursuing creative careers despite social pressure to choose more conventional paths.
Smriti related to this closely.
Coming from a Marwari background where business careers were more common, she said her parents supported her decision to pursue cricket even when many people questioned it. “My mom, dad were pretty clear that she loves cricket, she's going to play cricket,” she fondly remembers.
She told students that once you understand your reason for choosing something, the journey becomes easier.
At this juncture of her career after winning the World Cup Final, she also recounted, “Trying to make a career out of a profession, which is not that famous in India, and taking it to a place, to a different place, I feel that is a bigger accomplishment than doing anything else.”
How Technology Became Part Of Her Training Routine
Smriti said one of the first things she asked her parents for as a teenager was a Lenovo laptop so she could review her batting videos.
Today, she uses technology in multiple ways: from analysing performances to checking nutritional balance through AI-based tools.
She also spoke about how modern students now have access to lightweight AI-powered laptops that make learning, designing and research easier than before.
Setting Goals Helped Her Return Stronger After Injury
Smriti also spoke about recovering from a serious ACL injury ahead of the 2017 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup.
During recovery, she wrote down clear goals for herself: including becoming Player of the Match in the tournament. She eventually achieved that milestone.
For her, writing goals down and visualising them has always been an important part of staying motivated during setbacks.
Design Students Reimagined Smriti Mandhana’s Journey
The final round turned the interaction into a creative challenge.
Students were divided into teams and asked to design posters inspired by Smriti’s journey using Lenovo's AI PCs, powered by the Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 processors.
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One team explored themes of legacy and growth through visual storytelling based on her career milestones. Another created a minimalist hero-journey style poster inspired by her achievements and leadership.
Smriti appreciated both teams for their creativity and attention to detail, and even joked about combining both ideas into a single final design.
This session at NID showed how conversations around sport, creativity and technology are increasingly coming together in classrooms today. As exam season approaches on campuses like NID, students also walked away with some much needed inspiration from Smriti Mandhana’s journey.
In collaboration with Lenovo
