Former Indian cricketer and North Zone selector Sarandeep Singh said that the upper order batters of the Indian team need to take responsibility after Women in Blue's all-rounders rescued the team in their win against Pakistan in the ongoing World Cup on Sunday.
India's innings was a story of three parts - the Smriti Mandhana-Deepti Sharma recovery after the early wicket, the stunning middle-order collapse and an incredible rescue act by Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana.
India were cruising with Mandhana and Deepti set for big scores before the wicket of the latter triggered a middle-order collapse. From 96/1, India were staring down the barrel at 114/6.
Vastrakar made her intent clear after walking out to bat at No.8, smashing two boundaries in Nida Dar's final over. That set the tone for the remaining 15 overs of the innings as Rana and Vastrakar matches each other stroke for stroke and took the game away from Pakistan.
"India women's team has made a great start and they are playing good cricket for a while now. But there are a few places where they need to work. I saw them today when they were playing and I realized that the upper order batters wil have to perform," Sarandeep Singh told ANI.
"If you see today they were 70odd for 2 and all of a sudden they were 114 for 6. From there on the way the number seven and eight played was amazing but that can happen only once in a while. In your pool their next oppositions are New Zealand and West Indies, England and Australia are also in your pool. So, when you play better opponents then you can't do such mistakes and they won't let you make a comeback. So, the way they have won here is fine but now the upper order needs to take the responsibility like Harmanpreet and captain Mithali, Smriti and other players too will have to perform well because their spin bowling is great and Jhulan Goswami too is a very senior player," he added.
"The best thing is that she still bowls very accurately. She doesn't give away runs, bowls wicket to wicket and opposition comes under pressure and you get the wickets. Hats off to her performance over the years. This world cup is important for her because how long will she play after the world cup we don't know. So, winning this world cup is very important because now the time has come to perform with the same attitude as they played today and won," the former cricketer pointed.
Vastrakar and Rana formed a 122-run stand for the seventh wicket. In the final five overs, India scored more runs to take the total past the 240-run mark.
India will next lock horns against New Zealand in the tournament on Thursday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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