India Women haven’t been putting up sensational results in recent years. It all began from the day they reached the 2017 World Cup final, and they have been a massive presence ever since. In their recent tour of Australia, results did not go their way, but the Indian women displayed some positive performances.
In the one-off Test between the sides, which was the Indian women’s team’s first-ever pink ball Test, India nearly pulled out a stunning result with Smriti Mandhana starring for the side, but the rain gods did not give the women enough time to get what they would have richly deserved.
She was India’s best batter in the tournament, having scored 352 runs in the tour. Her century in the Test match earned her a lot of plaudits from experts, and won her the player of the match award. Mandhana insisted that the Indian side should be getting more Test matches in the years to come, as he had no idea how to deal with remaining unbeaten overnight.
The 25-year-old also mentioned that she had a nearly sleepless night after Day 1, when she remained not out on 80, before getting dismissed on Day 2 for 127. She added that such experiences will help the players deal with intricate situations and all the ladies in the team love playing the red-ball format them.
Mandhana, who is currently part of the Sydney Thunder unit in the Women’s Big Bash League, said that the way their bowlers played was the biggest positive for the Indian side, who lost the tour 11-5 on overall points.
“The way Jhulan di bowled, Pooja [Vastrakar] and Meghna [Singh] bowled, and Renuka [Singh] and Shikha di bowled in the T20 format. It was amazing to watch our bowlers dominate the Australian batters, so that was the biggest positive,”
“It’s a conscious effort from all of us to have good batting depth. Especially in T20 and ODI formats because in white-ball cricket we might lose a few wickets and it shouldn’t always be top heavy. Our lower-middle order is contributing a lot and has done amazingly in the last two-three series,”
she said while speaking in a clubhouse conversation ahead of Red Bull’s first-ever women’s inter-campus tournament.
In the conversation, she also spoke highly of Jhulan Goswami’s stellar finish in the third ODI, where she came out to bat under critical circumstances and ensured the side did not slip away. She completed the game with boundary, and it was India’s only win in the limited overs games India played.
Mandhana highlighted the impact of the WBBL on these Indian cricketers and complimented the incredible batting depth Australia have the courtesy of the tournament.
The Indian fans were eager to witness the Sydney derby in the Women’s BBL this time, as it involved some major Indian names on either side. Mandhana and Deepti Sharma play for Sydney Thunder, whilst Radha Yadav and Shafali Verma are a part of the Sydney Sixers. However, rain gods got involved in the game and dismantled the hopes.
All the Saturday’s games in the Big Bash had to be cancelled because of it, including the Sydney derby game. Mandhana played one game until now, and managed just four runs in the Big Bash.
