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It won't be an exaggeration to say that Smriti Mandhana today is as popular among fans as some of the male cricketers. She has a lot of good attributes.

To begin with, she is a terrific batter. When on song, there are very few in the world, including the ones in men's cricket, who can bat as elegantly as her. She has that special touch which can make even the West Indian great Brian Lara proud. Plus, she is a brilliant captain. The Women's Premier League (WPL) started in 2023, and she has been at the helm there from day one. And in these four years, RCB have won the trophy twice. When you compare it with the RCB of Virat Kohli, they took 18 years to do that, and on top of that, they needed the lesser-known Rajat Patidar to inspire them. So, it came as no surprise when former India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik praised the left-handed batter. However, it was not her batting that caught Karthik's attention. It was her ability to lead her troops. "One of the favourite things about Mandhana, the way she carries herself and the clarity she has with what she is doing, she really says for sure, she is a leader, she knows what she is doing, her ability to grasp the situation is very intuitive," Karthik, batting coach with RCB in the IPL, told the club's official website. It was fine till this point. But then Karthik said something that can be considered the highest compliment, not just for Mandhana but for any cricketer in the world. He compared her with the one and only MS Dhoni, who is the only captain to date to win all three white-ball ICC tournaments. Huge compliment! "She gives us the freedom to do what we want, to allow us to do what we want, at the same time, if we have any doubt, she is there. And guess what, the last person I heard who had a similar attribute about was MS Dhoni, very gracious," Karthik said. Mandhana, with close to 300 international appearances to her name, was an important member of the team that won the World Cup last year, for the first time ever. The 29-year-old was yesterday named in India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in England. The event will kick off in June.