The Indian Women's team reached 201/ 8 in their 50 overs at County Ground, Bristol on Sunday, 27 June, after an awful batting show in the first innings. Reeling at 134/4 at the 40th over, India reached the 200-run mark, thanks to some late hitting by skipper Mitahli Raj.
However, if it comes to the dissection of the innings, the Indian skipper would not be able to wash her hands off the disaster just because she played some nice shots at the end. Batting in the middle phase of the innings, she and Punam Raut dropped the anchor so deep that it choked the Indian batting scoring at even below three runs per over.
They were the main reasons why India played 181 dot balls in an ODI innings which consists of a total of 300 deliveries. India hit just 20 boundaries in the course of their innings and did not hit a single six. The team started its innings in a brilliant manner with Shafali Verma playing in her usual way. But once she and her partner Smiriti Mandahna got out, Punam and Raj together played 94 balls to add only 56 runs.
When Punam got out, it was followed by the wicket of Harmanpreet as well and suddenly India were 84-4 in the 28th over. At the same time, Mithali was playing on 21 from 57 balls, striking at less than 40. If not for Deepti Sharma’s intent, India would have been looking at a much lower total. Not denying the fact that Mithali did manage to crawl her way back and eventually ended her innings with a strike rate of above 65, however, she failed to take India to a safe score.
On the other, England Women have been dominant ever since the start of the game. At the time of writing this, they were 114-2 in just 22 overs, scoring over five runs an over.