Sports News | We Should Have Restricted Ireland to 180: Smriti Mandhana
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Skipper Smriti Mandhana is not pleased that India let Ireland off the hook due to fielding lapses, saying they should have restricted their opponents to under 180 in the opening ODI on Friday.
Rajkot, Jan 10 (PTI) Skipper Smriti Mandhana is not pleased that India let Ireland off the hook due to fielding lapses, saying they should have restricted their opponents to under 180 in the opening ODI on Friday.
India had reduced Ireland to 56/4 in the 14th over but the visitors went on to score 238 for seven with skipper Gaby Lewis (92) and Leah Paul (59) making most of three dropped catches and a few misfields.
India overhauled the target without fuss but Mandhana expressed her concerns regrading the sub-standard fielding.
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"We need to get better at fielding. We should have restricted them to 180, will be aiming to do that going forward. We have to go out there and execute our plans, that's going to be important," Mandhana said during the post-match presentation.
The stand-in skipper however praised the bowling unit for performing well on the placid wicket.
"To bowl on these sort of wickets, which have nothing in it, the bowlers did a really good job... The way they executed the slower balls and bouncers. Every game here on, we need to execute."
Mandhana provided an explosive start with her 29-ball 41 before Pratika Rawal showed immense maturity to anchor the chase with her 96-ball 89.
"Really happy for our batters. Tejal finished off well. It was a perfect day for us. Matches are won by the things we do behind the scene. Need to stick to our routine and do all the right things," she added.
Pratika, who made her debut in the preceding series against the West Indies, missed a maiden century by just 11 runs.
The 24-year-old however said she never had the century in mind.
"I am not thiking about the results, not thinking about the big numbers, just taking it one match at a time. Whenever the ball is in my slot, I try to hit boundaries. Otherwise I just try to push it down the ground," she said.
A student of psychology, Pratika said it helped her ease her mind.
"Being a student of psychology also helps to stay calm. We were just trying to keep it simple, we had a good start," she said about her fifty-plus stand with Smriti.
Middle order batter Tejal Hasanbis made a memorable comeback, hitting her maiden fifty as she finished off the chase with an unbeaten 53.
"I feel great, happy that I contributed in team's win, that matters the most, that (win) means more than the fifty.
"My game plan was simple, I love chasing. I was playing according to the situation. Rotated the strike initially and scored boundaries when the ball was in the slot."
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)