Who would have thought before the IND vs NZ Women’s World Cup match; Harmanpreet Kaur’s team beat the White Ferns by 53 runs to qualify for the semis of the tournament, and occupy the last remaining spot. Courtesy of Pratika Rawal’s 122 and Smriti Mandhana‘s 109, the team posted a daunting 340 in the first innings, but with rain coming into effect, the target was made more difficult — with 325 needed in only 44 overs.
Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal Rise to the Occasion
The Indian team responded in style to register their third win of the tournament, their first after three losses on the trot. And now it’s almost certain, they will finish 4th on the World Cup points table, and most likely be up against the table-toppers in the semis, which could be Australia.
Coming back to Mandhana and Rawal — the former scored her 14th ton — the second most in women’s ODIs, and also brought up her third consecutive 50+ score in the World Cup, first for India after Harmanpreet’s feat back in 2017 World Cup. As for Rawal, she brought up 1000 runs in only 23 innings, the fastest in the world, along with slamming her second-ever.
Catching & Team Selection Still Big Issues
Now for the issues. Which continue to exist in plenty. Look, India should be happy that they were offered to bat by Sophie Devine, despite winning the toss. Yes, they batted extremely well, but a chase here would have been an issue — the Indian team usually struggles while chasing — at least their record shows that. Their best successful chase is only 265.
Then comes team selection. Somehow, the management likes to go with an extra batter, overlooking the need for a genuine sixth bowler. That ploy did not work in encounters vs SA and AUS. Today, Jemimah was brought in for Amanjot Kaur. But if a bowler fails, we don’t have a backup. ON Thursday too, even though we won the match, but at the end of 44 overs, NZ were 271, that means a run-rate of 6.16.
Sneh Rana gave away 60 in her 8, while Deepti Sharma gave away 57 in as many. Sree Charani went over six as well. Then, long-standing issue of dropping catches. We dropped four on the night — Kranti Gaud, Jemi and Sree Charani were the guilty parties. So, if India has to go beyond semis, which was no easy task, all these will have to fall into place.
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