Kumar Sangakkara feels humbled by Smriti Mandhana's comments
Sangakkara is Mandhana's cricketing inspiration
What's the story?
Smriti Mandhana has always been vocal about her admiration for legendary Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara. India's opening batswoman recently revealed that she used to watch the Sri Lankan's videos to try and improve her stroke-play.
When Sportstar told him about the same, Sangakkara responded by saying, "Please convey to Smriti my thanks for mentioning my name. I was humbled to have been mentioned by such a wonderful player as she is."
The 21-year-old received huge praise for her fearless style of batting in the ICC Women's World Cup that was hosted in England over the past two months.
“Whenever I feel that I am not batting the way I should, I watch videos of Kumar Sangakkara. I like his batting style,” said Mandhana, when asked about her cricket inspirations.
Also read: Jhulan Goswami eyeing 2021 World Cup already
In case you didn't know...
The Indian cricket team, led by Mithai Raj, surpassed expectations through their terrific performance in the World Cup. They reached the final of the tournament and lost by a whisker to the eventual champions, England.
Mandhana was one of the most talked-about players of the tournament courtesy her eye-pleasing stroke-play.
Also read: ICC Women's World Cup 2017: Veda Krishnamurthy says she was unable to sleep the night after the final
The details
In one of her interviews during the tournament, Mandhana said that though she always admired Sourav Ganguly, she related more to Sangakkara's batting style.
She also revealed that while she did not watch much of Ganguly during her young days, the Sri Lankan was always an inspiration to her.
Also read: An open letter to Mithali Raj
What next?
Mandhana started the tournament with some sensational knocks, but her formed fizzled out after her hundred in its group stage.
The left-hander would look to get back on track soon. The World Cup has given considerable exposure to women's cricket and the players will look to take advantage of their increasing popularity in the sport.
Author's take
It is heart-warming to see male and female cricketers admire, support and respect each other. Let's hope that Mandhana goes on to become one of the greatest women cricketers produced by India so that one day, an up-and-coming cricketer is inspired by her like she was inspired by Sangakkara in her childhood.