ICC Women’s World Cup 2017: Twitter Hails Red-Hot Smriti Mandhana As She Takes India Over The Line Against West Indies
Dec 31, 2018 at 1:56 PM
Continuing her red-hot form in the ongoing Women’s World Cup, India opener Smriti Mandhana scored a magnificent century to help India thrash West Indies by 7 wickets in their second group game.
Fresh from her sizzling 90 off 72 balls in the first game against England, Mandhana put in yet another great batting display to bail India out of trouble. Chasing 183, India were off to a shaky start with Shamilia Connell dismissing in-form Punam Raut for a duck before Stafanie Taylor accounted for Deepti Sharma to leave the batting side reeling at 33 for 2.
However, Mandhana along with skipper Mithali Raj not only steadied the ship but also put the team on its way for a comfortable victory with a 133-run stand. As usual, Mandhana played her attacking game while Mithali looked more than content to play the second fiddle. The brilliant partnership came to an end when Hayley Matthews denied Mithali her eighth consecutive fifty by just four runs.
But Mandhana and Mona Meshram ensured that India cross the line without suffering any further hiccup as they shared an unbeaten partnership of 42 runs to take India home in the 43rd over. Mandhana scored 106 runs off 108 balls with the help of 13 fours and 2 sixes while Meshram remained unbeaten on 18.
Earlier, the Indian bowlers totally justified Mithali Raj’s decision of bowling first by restricting the World T20 champions to just 183 for 8. At 69 for 1 in the 19th over, West Indies were looking well-set to post a decent total but their innings completely derailed once Deepti Sharma dismissed Hayley Matthews for 43. The Stafanie Taylor-led side kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually managed to put up just 183. Deepti Sharma was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2 for 27 in her 10 overs while Poonam Yadav And Harmanpreet Kaur also picked up two wickets each.
India will now take on Pakistan in their next game on Sunday (July 2).
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:
Congratulations @BCCIWomen on a fantastic victory.Smriti Mandhana has been outstanding.May our team continue to shine & give us joy.#WWC17
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) June 29, 2017
Smriti Mandhana…what a knock. What a player. 💯 to follow the 90+ in the first game. Well done. 😊👍🙌🇮🇳🏏#WWC17
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 29, 2017
She missed out on an 8th successive50 but how good is @M_Raj03 !Smriti Mandhana is simply superb as well.On course to another victory#WWC17
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) June 29, 2017
Smriti Mandhana's drives are as good as Sourav Ganguly's…#EngvInd#IndvEng#WWC17
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) June 24, 2017
What a fantastic stroke player Smriti Mandhana is!
👏👏👏#WWC17— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 24, 2017
The book is back! #MithaliRaj pic.twitter.com/6fF2wB9ULw
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 29, 2017
Smriti Mandhana should replace Yuvraj Singh in Team India's Men's team #WWC17 #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/pJ7uL8xXpl
— Amourlife Dating IN (@AmourlifeIndia) June 29, 2017