Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has been going strength to strength ever since she has made her international debut in 2013. The left-handed batter came into the limelight after her match-winning innings in the ICC Women’s World Cup last year against England and Windies. She has continued the purple patch in the ongoing season of the Kia Super League and is shattering records in the tournament.

Mandhana has so far notched up the scores of 48, 37, 52*, 43*, 102, 56 and 49 in seven innings while playing for Western Storm. Her form has reached sky high in the tournament and it seems that it will help Team India as the Women’s World T20 is set to be played in November this year. She also visited Lord’s recently to watch the second Test between India and England and made her presence felt alongside Sourav Ganguly who is also one of his idols.

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Smriti Mandhana, while speaking to BCCI.tv, revealed that the former Sri Lanka cricketer Kumar Sangakkara is her inspiration and she has improved her batting technique by watching his old videos. She said, “(Kumar) Sangakkara sir, I was a huge fan of him, since the day I started to watch him on TV. Whenever I don’t feel good about my batting, I go home and watch his clips.”

The Indian southpaw also went on to say that she always wanted to play in the T20 leagues to learn about the players of the other teams ahead of the World T20 in November. However, she was also surprised about her brilliant show in the ongoing KSL. She didn’t expect her to play so well but was happy that the things were falling in place at the right time.

Smriti elaborated, “I was really keen to play this league because I will be playing the same bowlers in the World Cup, and to play them beforehand will be a big thing. I did not expect to bat this well in the tournament, I always wanted to come to this tournament to learn a few things that will help me in the World Cup, but year first T20 century is always special.”