India Women’s captain has asked for more consistency from the opening pair after the nine-wicket thumping in the first ODI from Australia on Tuesday.
India Women’s tour of Australia did not get off to an ideal start as they were hammered in the first One-Day International by nine wickets.
Captain Mithali Raj had some strong words to say for her openers – Smriti Mandhana in particular and Shafali Verma.
“The opening partnership – if they can give us a good start, clearly the middle order can take the momentum from there. But if you lose wickets, you actually have to build an innings in the first ten overs. Smriti has been on the international circuit for a while, so we would expect some runs from her.”
Raj said in the post-match presser.
Batting first, India Women only managed to score 225/8 in 50 overs. Opening batters put on 31 in three overs but were dismissed in quick succession. Playing her second ODI, Darcie Brown exploited the conditions well on a pitch that offered significant assistance to the pacers.
She strangled Shafali down the leg with a bouncer on eight off 10. In her next over, Madhana tried to drive her only to get caught at point on 16 off 18 as India were reduced to 38/2 in the sixth over.
After two early wickets, Raj had to rebuild the innings with the debutant Yastika Bhatia (35 off 51). The pair added 77 runs for the third wicket. Raj once again played her anchor role well, scoring 63 off 107 – her 59th overall and fifth consecutive fifty in this format.
“When you know the sort of batting line-up the Australians have, anything closer to 250 is what we were looking at, but losing two wickets, especially batters like Smriti and Shafali, in the powerplay itself, it was important the middle order starts to compensate for that and build a partnership there.”
Mandhana and Verma have opened together in 25 T20Is and only thrice in the fifty-over format before the Australia tour. The duo had opened together against England, adding 23, 56 and 46 for the first wicket in three innings. The 17yr old batter Shafali is inexperienced and the management would be lenient on her.
Mandhana, on the other hand, has been playing for India for eight years and has played 144 international matches. She has struggled for consistency for a while, crossing registering a fifty only once in nine innings this year. Captain Mithali expects more out of her players and not be reckless trying to play a fearless brand.
“You always bat according to the situation. Of course, the players need to play shots, but it doesn’t mean you are reckless. We need to now actually have partnerships rather than thinking about fearless cricket. The girls need to get down to developing some partnerships in the middle and that will definitely give them confidence at some point to play fearlessly.”
Mithali also admitted that her own strike rate is always on the back of her mind and that there is room for improvement. She also praised the debutants – pacer Meghna Singh, wicketkeeper batter Richa Ghosh (32 off 29) and Bhatia.
Australian batters were ruthless in chasing down the total in only 41 overs, with all of the top three scoring individual fifties. They were particularly excellent against Indian spinners, which is India’s strength. Mithali mentioned that it is something they need to work on. She also hinted that while they aren’t likely to tinker much with the playing XI, the option of one or two changes will be open.
India Women will next take on Australia Womn in the second ODI at Mackay on September 24 in a bid to make a strong comeback and level the series.
