I had scolded Smriti Mandhana for copying Sangakkara in the nets, says her coach

With the Indian Women’s team registering two consecutive wins in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup in England, all the attention in India has shifted to two cricketers, who’ve been amassing runs for fun. Whilst skipper Mithali Raj silently keeps notching up crucial runs, its Smriti Mandhana who is currently hogging all limelight after she registered scores of 90 and 102 in her first two games.

The southpaw’s aggressive approach to the game propelled India to massive victories against two hot favourites of the tournament, the hosts England and West Indies. The entire cricketing fraternity currently is in awe of her splendid batting display and interestingly, her childhood coach has claimed that she was a huge fan of Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara.

Smriti’s coach Anant Tambvekar from Sangli was ecstatic with his ward’s performances and said she had called him up after the century against West Indies. Both of them apparently discussed if the opener had committed any technical mistakes during her knock.

“She has not forgotten me yet. After scoring the century in the group league match in the World Cup she called me from London, asked me whether she had made any technical mistake during her century. I did not expect phone call from her,” said Anant as quoted by One India.

Huge fan of Kumar Sangakkara 

He also said that Smriti was a huge fan of Sangakkara and tried to copy him while playing in the nets. He added that she was extremely disciplined when it came to her training and that’s what is helping her excel right now.

“Smriti was very lively since her childhood. But at the nets she was extremely disciplined. She never used to leave the nets unless she had mastered a shot. Later on she became fan of Kumar Sangakkara. In the nets she always tried to copy Sangakkara while batting. Sometimes I had scolded her for trying to copy the Sri Lankan great,” said her coach.

Anant also mentioned that she’s always very nonchalant about her performances and tries to keep her feet grounded. He said she barely expressed her elation when she called him up after scoring the century against Windies. “I have never seen Smriti being elated after a century or even after a match-saving performance. She always pretends nonchalant. Last week also, after scoring century in the World Cup when Smriti called me, she was as usual nonchalant,” he added.