India Women vs Australia Women, Carrara Oval, September 30
Match Result : Draw
Player of the Match: Smriti Mandhana
Match Report: The game saw brilliant performances from Smriti Mandhana with bat in the first innings, Shafali in the second, with the ball – Jhulan was spectacular and the others chipped in. For Australia, again it was Ellyse Perry who came to the team’s rescue with the bat along with Ash Gardner who made a fifty while Stella Campbell on debut impressed with her attitude to charge in and try at all times.
Since the game is a draw – both teams get 2 points each which means in this multi-format series, Australia lead India 6-4 at the moment. India adjusted themselves well despite not having any preparation with the pink ball in their debut Test and playing more games will only improve this young side further. Plenty of good things to come out from the game for both sides then.
Mithali Raj | India skipper: “Had we got four more wickets we would have gone for a few more overs. Rain took a lot of time out of the game. We tried to do whatever we could in the time we got. Jhulan has always been my best bowler for so many years and she shares her experience with the young bowlers.
We do have couple of young seamers, Meghna and Pooja, who have done well in the ODIs and they get to a learn a lot. Smriti has been fabulous. I was impressed by Yastika in the series. We do have impressive talent in the squad. I am sure she (Harmanpreet Kaur) will take the field in the T20 format.“
Meg Lanning | Australia skipper: “We would have got a result in four days if we didn’t have the weather. I thought India played really well. We had to fight it out which I’m pretty proud of the group for doing. After losing few wickets early on, we had to hang in there and get to a total we thought would be defendable. They bowled well and put us on the back foot early.
You had to bowl them out with that kind of total, but Smriti played a hell of an innings and put the pressure on us and it’s just one of those nights where we got off to a poor start and it kept compounding unfortunatelyThey (debutants) ran in hard and gave it their all. We fielded every day of this Test, so we spent a bit of time out there and that’s all we can ask really to give your full effort and that certainly was on.”
Smriti Mandhana | Player of the Match: “It’s definitely in the top three (asked to rate this hundred). First time playing a day-night Test, really happy that I gave good pace (start) to the team. Most nervous night I have ever had – after the first day. Lucky with that no-ball on 80.
That sort of cleared my mind after that. To wear whites and go into the field is the top-most thing. Different situation today to bat than the first day and that happens only in Tests. To bat with slips, gully is a different feel. We just have three days before the T20s. Rest for a day and get back to business with the T20s coming up.”
Heights of Cuteness! Smriti Mandhana's cute interview will melt your hearthttps://t.co/tiYh1qnMup
— avishkar govardhane (@avishkargovardh) October 30, 2021
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.