Mumbai: Successfully finishing close matches has been a problem for the Indian women’s cricket team over the years but vice-captain Smriti Mandhana believes the hard work put in in this area over the last one year has helped the team pull off close matches against world champions Australia. I managed to win.
Mandhana scored 79 off 49 balls in the second T20 International cricket match against Australia, which brought the Indian team close to achieving the target, but in the end she scored 187 runs to tie the score. Mandhana later scored 13 runs in the Super Over as India won.
Mandhana said in the press conference after the match, “We were not able to perform well in close matches, although we were giving a tough challenge to strong teams. Close matches are something the entire Indian team has been working on and it started with the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games.”
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He said, “We started winning in some matches. Our players have started handling pressure situations and we have a lot of match winners as well.” Mandhana said that even a year ago it was not an easy task for the team to score close to 45 runs in 25 balls.
He said, “If 45 runs were needed in 25 balls, then even a year ago, the Indian women’s team could not have achieved it. Now we have players like Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and Devika Vaidya. She is playing her part well.”
Mandhana described Richa as having special skills who hit four gargantuan sixes (including one in the Super Over) in the second match. He said, “When I got out in the regular overs, I asked Richa while returning to finish the match and she said ok didi. I knew she had special skills.”
Mandhana also welcomed the decision of the Indian Cricket Board to select Richa and Shafali Verma in the Indian squad for the Under-19 World Cup to be held in South Africa. He said, “When we were 16 or 17 years old, we used to hear about the Under-19 Women’s World Cup. It is good for them and we will also get to know our bench strength by replacing them with two new girls. (agency)