‘The women’s team can do something that the men’s team can’t’ – Smriti Mandhana recalls how Virat Kohli motivated her

Smriti Mandhana has been a poster girl for the Indian women’s team for the last three years or so. The southpaw has arguably been their standout batswoman, having notched over 3,800 runs with four centuries and 30 half-centuries. Though she had a rough time in the T20 World Cup earlier this year, she is expected to take down plenty of records for the Women in Blue.

The 23-year-old is a spring chicken on the field and she draws motivation from Virat Kohli, the Indian men’s skipper. The Mumbai-born recently reminisced some moments where the 31-year-old Virat motivated her. She told how Kohli inspired her to go for gym sessions regularly and inspire a generation of women to take up the sport in the country.

Smriti Mandhana opines

“He told me that your team (women’s team) can do something in India which men’s team cannot do, that is to change the culture for women in India,” Mandhana was quoted as saying on a podcast ‘The Doosra’. “Whenever you feel like missing a gym session, just think that you can actually inspire a generation of women in India to take up sports not only cricket,” she added.

Mandhana doesn’t have any cricket to play for the time being due to the massive coronavirus outbreak. However, she has managed to stay connected to the fans. She is currently busy hosting a talk show named ‘Double Trouble’ along with national teammate Jemimah Rodrigues. In the show, she has also interacted with the likes of Sania Mirza, Rohit Sharma, PV Sindhu and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Ever since India ended as the runners-up in the 2017 World Cup in England, Mandhana has grown in stature and is expected to have a bright future in the offing. Kohli, on the other hand, has been spending his lockdown time with wife Anushka Sharma.

A few days ago, he also featured on Instagram Live with former South African batsman AB de Villiers. Moreover, on Monday, May 18, he is set to go live with Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal on the latter’s Facebook page. Recently, he was also seen playing cricket with Anushka at his residence’s terrace.