As the world cup campaign of India's women's team drew curtains on Sunday, skipper Mithali Raj stood behind her players by saying, 'she is proud of the girls'. India lost to South Africa in their final group game, which had to be won for them to proceed further in the tournament.
While the openers, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma, came out all guns blazing as the Indian innings took off in a grand style, it was a poor finish that could carry the side to a total of only 274 runs. Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur anchored the ship and scored 68 and 48 runs, respectively.
"I personally feel the girls gave it all, it was an important game, was a good game, it ended our campaign, but I'm proud of the girls for coming so far," said Mithali in the post-match interview.
With the batters doing a decent job, the bowlers couldn't get the team through to the semis. They failed in the task, courtesy of a few missed opportunities, as India got knocked out of the World Cup.
Mithali reckoned that the bowlers should have been able to restrict South Africa, but Jhulan Goswami's absence in the match was a huge miss for them.
"With the bowlers we had, I thought 275 was a good total, we had defended similar totals in the past. Of course, her experience (on missing Jhulan Goswami) would have added a lot, but this was an exposure for the other girls to step up," she added.
Further, the 39-year-old legend thanked fans for their overwhelming support and urged them to keep on cheering for the Blue Brigade.
"Everything should come to an end, it'll take time to settle the emotions, but that is a sport. Thanks to everyone who turned out for every Indian game, it was nice to hear your cheers and keep supporting the girls and the Indian women's team in the future," Mithali signed off.