New Delhi, Oct 20 Former India captain Mithali Raj analysed the team’s performance after their loss to England at the Women’s World Cup and lauded India’s performance, saying there were very good partnerships and the game slipped out of their hands after Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma's dismissals.
India suffered their third consecutive defeat of the tournament, falling short against the four-time World Cup winners despite another strong batting performance. The Women in Blue were handed a 289-run target by the Nat Sciver-Brunt-led side, courtesy of a brilliant century by the team’s former skipper, Heather Knight.
The hosts did well in the chase, with Smriti, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti notching up half-centuries, they fell short by just four runs and could get to 284/6 in 50 overs.
“I think they were pretty good in the chase. At one point, the equation was under a run a ball. There were very good partnerships, first between Harmanpreet and Smriti, and then between Smriti and Deepti. But the crucial turning point came when Smriti played that shot, followed by Deepti Sharma’s wicket. Those two dismissals were so important because they had rebuilt the innings after losing early wickets in the Powerplay and had put India in control of the chase," Mithali said on JioStar.
"When you’re set, you have to be calculated. Yes, take risks, but pick the right balls and the right bowlers. After hitting a boundary off the first ball of that over, Deepti tried to clear the longest boundary and found the fielder. That was disappointing,” she said.
After some disappointing outings, Kaur finally rose to the occasion and played a crucial innings of a run-a-ball 70 before being dismissed by her rival skipper. Mithali weighed in on the Indian captain’s form and added, "She was taking charge from the moment she came in. She was timing the ball beautifully and looked very confident. Smriti took a bit of time to settle, but Harman was scoring at a run a ball, finding boundaries and rotating the strike well.
"There was a sense of calmness between them. No panic, no rush. Yes, she may have mistimed that shot and it was a good low catch, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s among the runs, and that’s a very good sign for India.”
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