“Smriti was awesome to play with. She is a class above,” the 19-year-old Litchfield said in Mumbai on Wednesday. “As a lefty I learnt a lot off her. She helped me through those innings. I definitely made the most of her [time] over there [and] picked her brains. She’s one of my favourite left-handers to watch.
“She actually gave me one of her bats at the end of the series. I used that and it was a peach! [The chat with her was about] just batting insights around how to go about a game. Sometimes you shank some, sometimes you go well. You’ve got to stick in there and put an innings together. She helped me with that.”
“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t cross my mind,” she said. “The pressures of scoring runs always plays on the mind, especially as a young player. With the media going ‘oh, you are the next big thing’ and I hope like I don’t go nowhere or something like that. But as soon as I hop on the field it disappears, which is nice.
“I focus on scoring runs and actually having fun around the group and seeing players like Rach [Rachael] Haynes, Alyssa Healy play and mirror my game to the T and have fun.”
“I am like-for-like for Rach – as in a top-order, middle-order batter, lefty and a fielder,” she said about her possible role. “I guess that’s the spot that is free in the Aussie set-up. But I am not looking for anything at the moment and just relishing the time in the group.
“It wasn’t the greatest hit on these spinny, slow wickets but it’s my first hit in the subcontinent. It is not going to be perfect but yeah, it was lots of fun batting with Midge [Healy], who was smacking it down at the other end while I was struggling to get off the mark.”