Smriti Mandhana Dubs This Legendary Cricketer As Her Inspiration

Smriti Mandhana made her debut for the Indian women's cricket team in 2013. Since then, her performance has helped her develop into a key player in the national team in all the three formats. Mandhana on Tuesday revealed that former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara is the cricketer that she looks up to, when she undergoes a rough patch in her career. "(Kumar) Sangakkara sir, I was a huge fan of him, since the day I started to watch him on TV," Mandhana told bcci.tv in an interview.

Sangakkara, who was also a left-handed batsman, has an average of 57.40 in Test cricket. "Whenever I don't feel good about my batting, I go home and watch his clips," Mandhana said.

Mandhana, who made her debut in the Women's Cricket Super League this year, said that the T20 league will help her learn about other player ahead of the Women's World T20 2018.

"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," she said.

Mandhana has notched up the scores of 48, 37, 52*, 43*, 102, 56 and 49 in her seven innings so far for Western Storm. She also scored her maiden T20 century in the process.

However, she said that she never expected herself to play this well in the tournament.

"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," she said.

Mandhana is currently the leading run scorer in league with 387 runs. She leads Heather Knight, her captain at Storm, who has 250.