django.db.utils.OperationalError: (2002, "Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)")

I've just moved my project which was running perfectly in windows to centos 7.

I've all the required dependencies installed in virtual environment and have mysql database running at http://localhost/phpmyadmin, using xampp.

however, python manage.py runserver throws me following error : django.db.utils.OperationalError: (2002, "Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)")

also systemctl status mysqld throws following error

(myvenv) [root@CIPL-5PC226 django-project]# systemctl status mysqld
● mysqld.service - MySQL Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mysqld.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: deactivating (stop-sigterm) (Result: exit-code)
     Docs: man:mysqld(8)
           http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/en/using-systemd.html
  Process: 11595 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld --daemonize --pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid $MYSQLD_OPTS (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 11572 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mysqld_pre_systemd (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Tasks: 23
   CGroup: /system.slice/mysqld.service
           └─11598 /usr/sbin/mysqld --daemonize --pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid

Jun 01 14:24:17 ABCD-5PC226 systemd[1]: Starting MySQL Server...
Jun 01 14:24:18 ABCD-5PC226 mysqld[11595]: Initialization of mysqld failed: 0
Jun 01 14:24:18 ABCD-5PC226 systemd[1]: mysqld.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1

because of my limited knowledge of centos, despite searching and trying out multiple solutions, I've not been able to resolve the issue yet.

my understanding is that i have sql running at localhost/xampp but due to some reason the project is not able to connect despite clearly mentioned in the database section of settings.py file of django project.