Twitter Reactions: Star Trio - Smirti Mandana, Punam Raut and Mithali Raj - Hammer England 1
Smirti Mandana was in an attacking mood (Phot Source: ESPNcricinfo)

The Indian Women’s team gave a rollicking start to their World Cup campaign against hosts England at the County Ground Derby. After being asked to bat first, the ‘Women in Blue’ piled on 281 for 3 in 50 overs to make things a bit challenging for the English ladies who will be now required to effect their highest ODI chase in order to pocket the win.

Opener Smirti Mandana, the 20-year-old prodigy, was the centre of all the action for the first half of the innings. Her attacking knock of 90 which came off just 72 deliveries at a strike rate of 125 gave the perfect headstart again a stronger opposition.

Mandana’s partner, Punam Raut, who played a sort of second fiddle when the left-hander was scorching the field with boundaries, then seized control of the innings along with her skipper Mithali Raj.

Heather Knight, the opposition skipper, chose to bat first after the flip of the coin citing the cloudy weather as the reason. Her logic was debunked quickly all thanks to Mandana’s attacking instincts and Raut calculative approach.

Mandana made her intentions clear with four boundaries off Katherine Brunt’s 4th over. The 16 run over set the rhythm for her. An over later, she tonked Schiver for a massive six off the first delivery before topping it off with a boundary two ball later and end with 12 runs off it to take India total to 44/0 after the end of the 6th over .

A brief dry run was then brought on by the opposition. But, Mandana and Raut were quick to realise the importance of strike rotation and kept the scoreboard healthy, bringing their 100 runs stand in the 20th over.

India, unfortunately, lost its first wicket soonn, in form of Mandana. The bespectacled cricketer added 20 runs to the total and seemed moving towards her century in grand fashion. However, in the 27th over, she was picked in the mid-wicket region off Knight’s bowling which brought an end to the 144 runs stand and also forced her to walk back 10 runs short of her ton.

Wearing her trademark floppy round cap, Mithali Raj then joined Raut in the middle. The latter looked more confident now after batting with nervousness, trying to avoid committing any needless mistakes.

At the time when Mandana departed, Raut had just received a massive boost to her confidence as she completing her fifty. She combined with Raj to form another huge stand. The duo carried India’s innings nicely and added 122 runs for the 2nd wicket. But, English ladies denied a century to another deserving name after Raut was removed for 86 runs.

She looked slightly different when batting with Raj as runs came at a higher rate off her bat. Her first 50 runs took her 88 deliveries while the at the time of departure she had added 36 off just 46 balls.

Mithali Raj (71 from 73 balls) ensured no hiccups were experienced in the final overs and gave a perfect ending to the innings. She could not remain unbeaten though as a wild slog off the final delivery brought her knock to an end.

 

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