{
  "id": 14499189,
  "title": "'If Ball Is In My Zone, I'll Still Go For It' Smriti Mandhana On Captaincy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/if-ball-is-in-my-zone-ill-still-go-for-it-smriti-mandhana-on-captaincy",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-14T17:05:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/sports/if-ball-is-in-my-zone-ill-still-go-for-it-smriti-mandhana-on-captaincy"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "New Delhi, October 14: Smriti Mandhana, India's newly appointed women's cricket captain, revealed that her decade-long tenure as vice-captain has prepared her for the full-time leadership role. The 29-year-old, who has been part of the Indian team since 2013, expressed her confidence that the added responsibility would not impact her batting style. In her first press conference as Team India's full-time captain, Mandhana addressed the media, expressing her enthusiasm for the exciting opportunity of leading the women's team in white-ball cricket. She emphasized that the captaincy would not alter her approach to batting, insisting that she would continue to play according to the team's needs and trust her instincts. The Zimbabwe series, a first-time encounter with the Associate nation, was described by Mandhana as an exciting chance for India to learn from their opponents and set standards for the upcoming Champions Trophy.",
  "summary": "New Delhi, Oct 14: India's newly appointed women's cricket captain Smriti Mandhana said the full-time leadership role would not be an entirely new challenge for her, given her nearly decade-long experience as vice-captain, and expressed confidence that the additional responsibility would not affect her batting approach. Mandhana was appointed captain of the Indian women's team earlier this month,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}