Fans were left seething on social media after the Indian women’s team put up a horror show with the bat against New Zealand in the ICC Women’s World Cup on Thursday, 10 March.
After a fantastic bowling display in the death overs of the first innings, the Indian batting department faltered, trying to be too cautious in the approach against the White Ferns. This resulted in an awful first 20 overs where the women’s team failed to breach run-rate of 3.0 while chasing 261 runs in their second match of the ODI World Cup.
Openers Yastika Bhatia and Smriti Mandhana scored just 10 runs in the first six overs before Mandhana was dismissed trying to be aggressive against Jess Kerr, while Bhatia’s struggle lasted for 59 balls before the left hander was caught at covers against Lea Tahuhu. Bhatiya only hit 2 boundaries in her innings that lasted till the 20th over of the game and buried India’s chances of chasing the total.
Injection of captain Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma could not change India’s fortunes as both batters kept up with their defensive approach. While Deepti only lasted 13 balls and got caught in front of the wickets by a Tahuhu inswinger, Raj, once again kept denying singles from the non-striker’s end and kept defending balls.
This needs to be put in context that India bat quite long and have done well in the recent past.
With required rate going out of control, India lost back to back wickets against Amelia Kerr, who removed Mithali Raj and Richa Ghosh in back to back balls diminishing India’s chances to come back.
Indian fans on Twitter were left furious over India’s approach with the bat and vented their frustration.