When ICC ODI batting ranking announced Smriti Mandhana as world number one in women’s cricket leaving behind Australians Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning, it was definitely a proud moment. And, the first thing Smriti did was call her family. “My parents were super-excited, but my brother started pulling my leg.

Not many know that Smriti’s love for cricket began while watching her brother play. In fact, she picked up her batting style from him. They are both left-handed batsmen. Though he stopped playing midway, Smriti continued chasing her dream and today, she credits her success to her brother, Shravan.

Ask how Shravan reacts when people come up to her for photos, Smriti says, “He never gets jealous or awkward when people ask me for pictures when we are out. Had the scenario been opposite, it wouldn’t have been easy for me since, since I have always been a cry baby.”

“More than anything else, he is interested in the number of sixes I have hit. He is fascinated by sixes I started playing at the age of five and I still remember how I would watch him bat closely and would look forward to him bowling to me. There was a time when he had a good number of cricket balls that he won given his good performances in various tournaments, while I did not have any. And those balls are really special as they are signed by seniors and popular cricketers. But he would happily share those balls with me so that I could continue practising,” says the cricketer, who recently led India in T20 series against England.

Coming to the other half of this duo, Shravan, 26, too, only has good things to say about his little sister. “She always had it in her to make it big,” he says, before adding on a lighter note, “Smriti is that typical younger sister who keeps irritating me. I just wonder when will she grow up.”

Ask Smriti one quality of her brother that irks her and she says, “He bothers me all the time. If I am watching TV, then he wants the remote at that very moment. There are times when I get back home after a long tour and if I’m trying to play the keyboard, he also wants to play it at that very moment .”