A fan asked if Smriti Mandhana is the female version of Sehwag; Sehwag's reply was bang on!

The southpaw from Mumbai who is winning every heart that beats for cricket, Smriti Mandhana is on her way to greatness in women’s cricket. The 20-year-old is in the form of her life currently and in the two games played against England and West Indies in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, she registered scores of 90 and 102 respectively.

Smriti has been drawing compliments from every cricketing guru and the opener’s swashbuckling attitude with the bat is another facet which is gaining her a lot of attention. Whenever an opening batswoman in India scores at a healthy strike-rate, the first person they get compared to is the legend Virender Sehwag.

One of her enthusiastic fans too wasted no time in drawing parallels between Smriti and Sehwag and he tweeted saying the former is the “Female version of Sehwag”, something which he should be proud of.

@mandhana_smriti is the Female version of @virendersehwag
You can be proud of her sir pic.twitter.com/wW8awyt9Ie

— SPYder (@UrstrulyBharat_) June 30, 2017

As compelling as the comparison sounds, it’s important to accept a fact that every cricketer is different in his own rights. Sehwag too conveyed the same message and said every Indian would be proud of her. He also wished her luck for the ongoing World Cup. His tweet read “She is the first version of Smriti and is really special. Every Indian who loves sports will be proud of her. Wish her and the team the best.”

She is the first version of Smriti and is really special. Every Indian who loves sports will be proud of her. Wish her and the team the best https://t.co/RrjavFVLc0

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) June 30, 2017

A True Cricketing Prodigy

Smriti’s brother and father had played professional cricket at the district level and she was inspired when her brother represented Maharashtra Under-16 side. Soon after she started training professionally, the left-hander represented Maharashtra Under-15 side at the age of 9 and was roped into the Under-19 side at a mere age of 11.

The young Indian sensation is also the first ever Indian woman to score a double-ton in a One-day game. She scored an unbeaten 224 off 150 balls in the West Zone Under-19 Tournament, at the Alambic Cricket Ground in Vadodara. At the age of 16, she broke through into the Indian women’s senior side and the rest, as they say, is history.