ICC Women World Cup 2022: Couldn’t have asked for a better effort from the girls – Mithali Raj

Indian captain Mithali Raj was delighted with her team’s performance after they defeated West Indies by a massive margin of 155 runs at the Seddon Park, Hamilton on Saturday.

This is India’s biggest second biggest win in the World Cup in terms of the number of runs.

India posted an above par score of 317 runs after Mithali Raj won the toss and decided to bat first. Smriti Mandhana scored a fine knock of 123 runs as she timed the ball to perfection whereas Harmanpreet Kaur scored brilliant innings of 109 runs. The duo added 182 runs for the fourth wicket alliance and both of them played a key role in getting India past 300.

On the other hand, West Indies got off to a flying start as Hayley Mathews and Deandra Ditton were able to hit the ground running. Ditton scored 63 runs off 42 balls despite back injury but West Indies crumbled like a pack of cards after she was dismissed by Sneh Rana.

The Windies kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could not get any kind of partnership after their opening wicket stand. Sneh Rana was the pick of the Indian bowlers as she returned with impressive figures of 3-22. Furthermore, Meghna Singh scalped two wickets whereas Jhulan Goswami, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Pooja Vastrakar took one wicket each.

Mithali Raj said in the post-match presentation, “Couldn’t have asked for a better effort from the girls. The way they stepped up in a crunch game like this. It had a lot to do with the nerves, Everybody knew about the importance of this game. We needed to step up. Windies came into this game with two wins and we came in after a loss. You need to be a little flexible. The way Smriti and Kaur played sensibly. It is good to have youngsters around. The young ones ease out the nerves by cracking a few jokes. What worked for us was our approach and attitude, The next game might be on different ground and different conditions. But our approach can be consistent.”

Smriti Mandhana was awarded the Player of the match for scoring her fifth ODI hundred however she decided to share the award with Harmanpreet Kaur. This is India’s second win of the tournament and they were able to get back to winning ways after losing against New Zealand.

India will next face England at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.