Felt Bad To See Mithali Raj Sitting In The Dugout: Jhulan Goswami
Apr 6, 2019 at 2:05 PM
Veteran India pacer Jhulan Goswami has expressed her disappointment over the team’s decision to bench Mithali Raj for their semi-final against England. India lost the match by eight wickets to exit the competition.
India sprung a huge surprise just before the crucial clash against England by dropping their most-experienced player Mithali Raj. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. had won their last group game without Mithali as the latter was not well. Perhaps the impressive win over Australia had convinced the team-management that they could beat the reigning 50-over World Champions without their former captain.
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Well, the decision backfired as India suffered an inexplicable batting collapse and eventually lost the game. Batting first, India were comfortably placed at 89 for 2 in the 14th over. They were looking set to post a target close to 150.
However, a spectacular batting collapse saw India losing their last eight wickets for just 23 runs as the team was all out for 112. The score was never going to challenge England. And although India sent back both their openers for just 24 runs on the board, fifties from Amy Ellen Jones and Natalie Sciver took England home comfortably.
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On the other hand, India are not only out of the tournament but are also facing the heat for not including Mithali Raj in the team. And the latest to express her disappointment over the decision is Jhulan Goswami.
“The decision was taken by the team management. I am sure they have their reasons, but as an Indian cricket fan I felt bad to see Mithali sitting in the dugout,” the 36-year-old told Cricbuzz.
Jhulan further spared a thought for the team, saying that the failure to holds the nerve in the semifinal cost India the game.
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“It’s just one bad day for our girls, and it’s all over. We played good cricket throughout the group stage but failed to hold our nerve in the semifinal,” said Goswami.
“We won the toss and decided to bat but could not make it count. Despite the good start (43 in 6 overs) by Smriti (Mandhana) and Taniya (Bhatia) we crumbled from 89/2 to be bowled out for 112,” she added. “The girls batted well in the warm-up matches as well as group league stage of the WT20 meet, but our batting display against England was shoddy.
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