Smriti Mandhana Named Kia Super League 2018 Player of the Tournament

Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana grabbed headlines for smashing scores at the Kia Super League 2018 played in England. Mandhana scored 421 runs in the tournament with a smashing average of 60.14 for Western Storm and emerged to the highest scorer of the tournament. In 2016, Stafanie Taylor had scored 289 whereas Rachel Priest made 261 runs. The 22-year-old even went on to smash her maiden century while playing and then even scored the fastest half-century in 18 balls.

The final match of the league was played between Surrey Stars and Loughborough Lighting. Mandhana, however, could not be part of the semifinals as she was already was already in India for preparing for the Sri Lankan tour. During the tournament, her team Western Storm also hailed her feat on Twitter. Their tweet read, “Highest run scorer KSL 2018: Mandhana Highest individual score KSL 2018: Mandhana  Highest batting average KSL 2018: Mandhana Fastest strike rate KSL 2018: Mandhana Most sixes KSL 2018: Mandhana  Most sixes KSL history: andhana#StormTroopers @BCCIWomen.”

This was the first time that an Indian played for Kia Super League. After securing her signing, Head Coach of the Western Storm Trevor Griffin said, "We are really excited that Smriti will be joining us. She is one of the brightest young talents in the game at the moment. Although she is still young, she has a great deal of experience of the game at the highest level and we believe that she will prove to be an excellent signing."

Looking forward to the new challenge, Smriti said, "I am very excited to be playing for the Kia Super League Champions. To be the first Indian player to appear in the tournament is a real honour and I hope that I can help Western Storm to more success.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2018 10:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).