New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): As Team India prepares for the ICC Women's World Cup campaign starting from September 30 onwards, India's Test skipper and all-format sensation Shubman Gill hailed women's team batting superstar Smriti Mandhana, comparing her 'lazy elegance' to Australian great Damien Martyn.

Gill, currently a part of India's T20I Asia Cup squad, was speaking on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Women's channel in a video.

Speaking during the video, Gill said, 'I think it is kind of Damien Martyn, how she plays. She has that slow, lazy elegance. Technique is something that gets you through tough phases. When you are under pressure or situation is tough, it helps you.'

India's all-format superstar recognised how well Mandhana has performed to 'keep up with the expectations'.

'I actually would not give her any advice and tell her to be herself and keep doing what she is doing,' he concluded.

https://x.com/BCCIWomen/status/1971198007057031490

Across 279 matches and 295 innings, Martyn scored 9,872 runs for Australia from 1992 to 2006, at an average of 42.92 with 18 centuries and 61 fifties and a best score of 165. He won two ICC Cricket World Cups with the Aussies in 1999 and 2003, scoring 88* against India in the 2003 final. In 208 ODIs, he made 5,346 runs at an average of 40.80, with five centuries and 37 fifties in 182 innings and best score of 144*.

This year, Mandhana has been in red-hot form, scoring 928 runs in 14 innings at an average of 66.28 with a strike rate of 115.85, with four centuries and three fifties and a best score of 135.

She finished as the leading run-maker in the recent home series against Australia, which India lost 1-2, with 300 runs in three matches at an average of 100.00, with two centuries and a fifty. In the final ODI, with a 50-ball century, she overtook Virat Kohli to register the fastest century by an Indian in ODI cricket across both men's and women's cricket.

India will start their Cricket World Cup campaign at home against Sri Lanka in Guwahati, with Mandhana needing 43 runs to break Australia's Belinda Clark's record of 970 runs in women's ODIs during the 1997 calendar year, the most by a women's cricketer.

In 108 ODIs, Mandhana has scored 4,888 runs in 108 innings at an average of 47.92 and a strike rate of almost 90, with 13 centuries and 32 fifties and best score of 136.

In 16 WC matches for India, Mandhana has made 559 runs in 16 innings at an average of 37.26, with two centuries and three fifties, with a best score of 123. However, she has a poor knockout record, managing just six runs across the semifinals and finals of the 2017 edition.

India squad for ICC Women's World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud. Reserves: Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Minnu Mani, Sayali Satghare. (ANI)