ICC Women's World Cup 2022: I Am Happy We Won The First Game But A Lot Of Things To Work On - Mithali Raj

India women cricket team captain Mithali Raj said the team has to work on a lot of things despite clinching victory against Pakistan in the opening game of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022.

India defeated Pakistan by 107 runs at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday. India were dented with an early blow as Shafali Verma was clean bowled by Pakistan skipper Diana Baig in the third over for a duck.  But Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma stitched 92 runs for the third wicket to set the tone for India in the innings.

However, both the batters fell in quick succession and senior players Mithali and Harmanpreet Kaur also didn’t stay at the crease for a longer period. India were reduced to 114/6 after Mithali’s dismissal at the start of the 34th over.

The top-order has to score runs in a big tournament like this: Mithali Raj

India’s lower-order batters Sneh Rana (53) and Pooja Vastrakar (67) joined forces to reinstate the innings and put 122 runs for the seventh wicket. Both the players were very calculative and kept rotating strikes and banked on the loose balls to find boundaries.

India bowled out Pakistan for 137 as Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed four scalps with senior pacer Jhulan Goswami and Sneh Rana chipped in with two wickets each. Mithali said she was happy with the team’s win but also mentioned that the team needs to enhance its batting performance.

“I am happy we won the first game but a lot of things to work on. When you lose wickets in the middle order, it does put a lot of pressure. The top-order has to score runs in a big tournament like this. When you have allrounders like Sneh, Deepti and Pooja, we extend our batting line up,” Mithali said in the post-match presentation ceremony. 

I like to bat in pressure situations: Pooja Vastrakar

Pooja Vastrakar said she was delighted to bag her first player of the match award and also gave an update on her leg injury.

“I’m very happy, my first player of the match award, in my first WC game. The plan was to somehow try and get to 200. I like to bat in pressure situations, even in domestics, I told the same to Sneh (Rana), to keep the partnership going,” Pooja said after receiving the player of the match award. 

“The batters told us that the wicket was slow, so the target was 200, but we didn’t bat differently. The physio said that the injury will heal quickly and I’ll be back soon,” she added. 

India women’s team will face host New Zealand in the next match on March 10 at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.

Also Read: ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2022: Jhulan Goswami Becomes The Second Highest Wicket Taker In Women’s World Cup