Smriti Mandhana hails Harmanpreet Kaur's 171* against Australia in World Cup as her favourite innings

Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami are some of the women cricketers that world was aware of until some rising stars made the most of the opportunity in 2017 Women s World Cup. Smriti Mandhana was one such name that cropped during the initial matches of the World Cup. She scored 90 and 106 in the matches against England and West Indies respectively. She might not have had a great run in the remaining matches, those initials knocks were enough for her to earn accolades.

Smriti has led a normal life like anyone of us. She was smitten by cricket at the age of 5 watching her brother play the sport. He was a left-handed batsman and that is how she became one too. However, off the field she is a right-hander. India reached the final and played against England at the iconic stadium Lord s. Every budding cricketer aspires to play a game in this stadium. It was a similar feeling for the women cricketers as well. Mandhana who was playing her first World Cup, was surprised to witness a packed stadium.

Although India lost the final by mere 9 runs, they received warmth and love back home. But for India Women one of the most memorable innings was their road to the final, the semi-final against Australia. Harmanpreet was on a rampage and rooted the defending champions. Her knock of 171* became a knock to remember for years to come. Smriti, too, was enjoying the moment from the stands.

In a chat with Verve Magazine, Smriti said, the semi-final we played against Australia that innings of Harman (Harmanpreet Kaur) was the highlight for me. She also mentioned Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar were her childhood idols apart from her brother.

Before signing off she revealed that on a cheat day, she prefers to have her all-time favourite snack bhel.