Team India celebrate after beating Ireland 3-0 in the ODI series.© BCCI/Sportzpics
Rajkot:
Smriti Mandhana believes India’s back-to-back 3-0 series wins against the West Indies and Ireland have provided the perfect momentum for making it their “best year in one-dayers” as the team gears up for the 50-over World Cup at home. India will host the women’s ODI World Cup later this year and the team, which has been able to rediscover its form with six consecutive ODI wins, should drive home the advantage now, says Mandhana.
“Two 3-0 sweeps are definitely really good in a World Cup year especially. We have to keep going and have this for the best year for one-dayers,” Mandhana said in a video shared by BCCI.
Mandhana (135) and Pratika Rawal (154) put on 233 for the first wicket for the third highest opening wicket partnership for India in ODIs, setting up their highest ever total of 435/5 and eventually for their biggest ever ODI win by 304 runs on Wednesday.
“I wanted to go out and bat with a lot of freedom. I said in the dugout before I went in about that you know, I’m going to try and play my shots because not many times you get an opportunity to do that,” Mandhana said.
Rawal, who notched up her first hundred to make 154 off 129 balls with 20 fours and one six, admitted she slowed down nearing her century but gained pace of scoring once she was past the landmark.
“As a batter I always wanted to score more runs and doing that for your country is actually a privilege and I am very happy,” she said.
“After (crossing) 70 (runs) I was a bit conscious that there was a hundred (on the cards). I was taking singles and going slow but when I got the hundred, I was like, let’s just go for it. The 50 runs after the hundred came a bit quicker. I was able to score the way I score,” she said.
Talking about her 233-run opening stand with the senior batter, Rawal said, “It felt like that it was happening with the flow, we didn’t think about it.” “We got to know stats now, actually,” Mandhana added.
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