ICC Women's CWC | Mithali Raj expresses concern over batting after loss to New Zealand

After a great win against the Pakistan team, India took on New Zealand (NZ) for their second match of the league stage. The 'Women in Blue' won the toss and elected to bowl first, however, what followed was not something the Indian team would have expected. The New Zealand Women played brilliantly to put up a score of 260 runs on the board. 

The target ended up being too much for the Indian team as they fell short by 62 runs. However, there was a lot to look into this defeat. The approach of the top order was questionable and the strike rate they played at was unacceptable as well.

The top 4 Indian batters played a total of 149 balls between them and scored only 70 runs together. The Indian captain was disappointed with the batting performance and shared her views on the lack of intent from the top order. 

“There was bounce and good carry off the surface but it was not a tough strip to bat on. Their seamers were hitting the right areas with the bounce, but it wasn’t unplayable and we could have done better,” said Mithali at the post-match presentation. 

The target of 261 was definitely chaseable and Harmanpreet Kaur showed that if one plays with the right mindset runs can be scored. The Moga-born cricketer finished with a 63 ball 71 on a day where her teammates failed to even strike at over 70. 

“We thought it was chaseable, provided we had the top order going. However, back-to-back wickets put a lot of pressure on us and we didn’t have a batter who can take it deep,” she added. 

It is definitely a game where the top order shall be held accountable for the failure. Even in the first game, it was the lower order who saved India from a collapse.

“Our bowlers have done well today and earlier as well. After the early wickets we got, the way they had a partnership I thought they’d get around 270-280. There was bounce and it got slower in the second innings,” she concluded. 

The bowling has been a positive for India in the first two games and they would hope to continue the good form. 

India will face West Indies on March 12 in their third game of the World Cup. They will be looking to get back to winning ways knowing that a loss against the Windies can make it tough for the Indian side to qualify for the knockouts.