Indian women captain Mithali Raj said that the future is definitely bright for her team after their disappointing exit from the ongoing ICC Women World Cup. It was a must-win match for India against South Africa but the Women in Blue lost by three wickets at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Sunday.
India posted a par score of 274 runs in the virtual quarterfinal for them after Mithali Raj won the toss and decided to bat first. Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Mithali Raj scored fifties whereas Harmanpreet Kaur scored a crucial knock of 48 runs for the team.
In fact, the turning point of the game came in the final over, bowled by Deepti Sharma. Three runs were required off the last two balls when Sharma dismissed Mignon du Preez as Harmanpreet Kaur took a catch at long-on. But as it turned out, Deepti had overstepped and this brought the equation to two runs in two balls, which the Proteas were able to get in the end.
It was heartbreaking for the previous edition runners-up as they failed to make it to the semifinal stages. Raj, however, was proud of her team’s performances and heaped praise on the group.
“There’ve been ups and downs, like we’ve done well against West Indies but we lost against England and Australia. And even New Zealand. So we did mix it up a little bit in the initial phase of the tournament. But I guess the way we made a comeback, even in today’s game the way the girls have responded, whether it is bowling or batting, I think they’ve done really well,” said Raj at the post-match press conference following India’s three-wicket defeat in Christchurch.
“It was a good game overall, if we have to judge it from the crowd, from people who watched, the viewers and for the sport, but yes for the Indian team it’s the end of the road in the tournament. A lot of good things have come out of the tournament like we’ve got Yastika [Bhatia], Shefali [Verma] started to score runs. The spinners have done well. There will be areas that as a team we need to work on moving forward. But overall, I think we could have done better. We could have done better in the initial phases of the tournament.
“I think the future definitely is very bright looking at Richa [Ghosh], Yastika and we have of course, Sneh Rana – she made a comeback, we have Meghna [Singh] who’s in the stand by and these girls will definitely play in the coming years good standard of cricket and the way they get the exposure of playing different leagues and playing regularly with the best of the best in the world, I’m sure the team will shape up well for the future tournaments,” she said.
On the other hand, Harmanpreet Kaur had a great run in the tournament. Kaur also took two wickets against South Africa and also affected two run-outs. Overall, she scored 318 runs in seven matches at an average of 53 in the tourney. Raj was all praise for Kaur after her impressive run in the competition.
“Her performance was exceptional in today’s game, just not through her batting. When I gave her a ball, she came there to bowl – even her contribution in fielding was immense, I think very important run-outs and getting those crucial wickets and all-around performance. I think having senior players in events like this, to get the experience to play the most important game helps with the team.”
As India lost, West Indies were able to book their semifinal berth in the ongoing World Cup.
