ICC Women World Cup 2022: There are a lot of things we have to work on – Mithali Raj

India’s Women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj admitted that there are a lot of things the team needs to work on after her side defeated arch-rivals by a comprehensive margin of 107 runs in the team’s opening match of the ongoing ICC Women World Cup 2022 at the Bay Oval, Mount Manganui on Sunday.

India posted a fighting score of 244 runs after Mithali Raj won the toss and elected to bat first. Women in Blue got off to a poor start as Shefali Verma was dismissed for a duck however Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma added 92 runs for the second wicket, with the former scoring a fine fifty.

However, India stumbled in the middle overs and lost five wickets for 18 runs, and was struggling at 114-6. Subsequently, Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar added 122 runs for the seventh and helped the team post 244 runs on the board.

Rana scored an unbeaten knock of 53 runs whereas Vastrakar added 67 crucial runs for the side. On the other hand, India was dominant with the ball as Pakistan could only manage 137 runs. Bismah Maroof-led team got off to a slow start but they kept losing wickets at regular wickets.

Sneh Rana and Jhulan Goswami picked a brace whereas Rajeshwari Gayakwad took four wickets for the Indian team. This was India’s 11th win against Pakistan in 11 ODIs.

Thus, India ticked the right boxes, especially with the ball and Raj wants the team to come up with a better batting show.

“Relieved to have won the first game but there are a lot of things we have to work on. When you lose wickets like that, it puts pressure,” Mithali Raj said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Very important partnership between Pooja and Sneh got us back. Important the top order scores run, we’ll want to address that. When you have allrounders like Sneh, Pooja and Deepti, it strengthens both departments. We have a couple of days, Pooja will definitely recover and be fit for the next game,” Mithali added.

India will play their second match against New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton on Thursday.