England Women beat India in a nail biting finish; India win the ODI series 2-1

The third ODI between India and England was not a do or die game, but just a match of academic importance. Having clinched the ODI series clinically, Mithali Raj and co. were rather relaxed going into the third and the last encounter of the ODI series at Wankhede, Mumbai.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, India did not get off to the best of starts as they lost their key opening bat Jemimah Rodrigues for a duck, courtesy Katherine Brunt. Coming in to bat on the very third ball of the innings, Mumbai player Punam Raut was determined to shoulder the responsibility. Smriti Mandhana, who has had a wonderful series so far, continued to score big. Mandhana (66) and Raut (56) stitched a solid partnership of 129 runs for the second wicket, before the southpaw fell prey to Brunt. After the dismissal of Smriti, the Indian batting collapsed like a pack of cards and in no time the hosts were dwindled down to 150-7, losing five wickets for just 21 runs. Lower down the order, Deepti Sharma (27 not out) and Shikha Pandey (26) consolidated the innings, and took India past 200-run mark. For the visitors, Katherine Brunt was the star performer with the ball as scalped 5-28 in her 10 overs.

What seemed to be an easy chase, looked remarkably difficult, as the English side kept losing wickets at regular intervals. At one point in time, the visitors were found wanting at 49-5, thanks to Jhulan Goswami's heroics with the ball. Goswami ran through the top order in no time, giving hope to her side to whitewash England. However, skipper Heather Knight (47) and Danielle Wyatt (56) had some other plans. Both these players batted with maturity and took the game away from the hosts. After the fall of Knight and Wyatt, India's hopes to clean sweep the series were ignited, but Georgia Elwiss (33 not out) alongwith Katherine Brunt (18) ensured that India do not make a comeback. The match went all the way to the 49th over, and the visitors chased down the target keeping in hand two wickets. For India, it was Jhulan Goswami (3-41) who was the pick of the bowlers, and she received good support from Shikha Pandey (2-34) and Poonam Yadav (2-41).

The two sides will meet next for a three match T20 series to be played at Guwahati from March 4.


Source: Cricbuzz

Women in Blue take an unassailable lead of 2-0 against England

Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good becomes better, and better becomes best. It seems that the Indian Women took off from where they had left on Friday, when the hosts handed a comprehensive 7-wicket defeat to England in the second ODI at Wankhede, Mumbai.

Batting first, England got off to a horrendous start as they lost their first wicket in the second over of the match. Indian pace duo of Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey wreked havoc as they picked up the first five wickets of the opposition. Natalie Sciver was the only ray of hope for the English side as she belted a delightful 85 off 109, striking 12 boundaries and a six. After the fall of Sciver, it was just a matter of formality for Mithali Raj and co. to run through the batting of visitors. Tammy Beaumont (20) and Lauren Winfield (28) were the other two players who contributed to England's total of 161 in 43.3 overs.  For India, Goswami and Pandey bowled well in tandem picking up eight wickets between themselves. Leggie Poonam Yadav scalped 2-28 in her nine overs.

In reply, the hosts chased down the target quite comfortably, thanks to the stylish southpaw's gritty knock of 63. Smriti Mandhana, who is currently the no.1 in ICC's batting charts, partnered first with Punam Raut (32) and then with skipper Mithali Raj (47 not out) to see the side home. English pacer Anya Shrubsole was the pick of the bowlers accounting for 2-23 in her eight overs. Georgia Elwiss struck with 1-28 in her 7.1 overs. The Women in Blue chased down the target in 41.1 overs, winning the match by seven wickets.

India take an unassailable lead of 2-0 against England, and also pocket 2 important championship points. Jhulan Goswami bagged the Player of the Match for her 4-30 in 8.3 overs. The sides will lock horns against each other on Thursday at the same venue.


Source: Firstpost

India Women go 1-0 up against England; Can the Women in Blue break the jinx?

One team that has trouble India in the last two years is England. Be it the World Cup final in 2017 at Lords or the World T20 semi-finals at West Indies that was played last year, England had the last laugh.

On Friday, India under the able aegis of skipper Mithali Raj was determined to get the better off England, and in the end were able to do, courtesy a terrific team effort that was showcased at Wankhede. Batting first, India without the services of injured Harmanpreet Kaur was dwindled down for 202 in 49.4 overs. The hosts would have liked to have a big score on board considering the solid start given by the openers Jemimah Rodrigues (48) and Smriti Mandhana (24). However, a flurry of wickets in the middle did no good, and in the end all India could manage was to merely breach the 200-run mark. Mithali Raj (44) and wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia (25) stitched a useful 54-run partnership which was complimented well by Jhulan Goswami (30) coming lower down the order. Credit goes to the English bowlers for picking up wickets at regular intervals, not allowing the Indians to post a big score. The initial hardwork done by pacers Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole was supported nicely by Georgia Elwiss, Natalie Sciver, and Sophie Ecclestone, all picking up two wickets each.

In reply, the visitors were looking good with skipper Heather Knight playing an unbeaten knock of 39 and Natalie Sciver scoring a patient 44. However, slow left arm spinner Ekta Bisht had some other plans in store. The experienced bowler wrecked havoc with 4-25 in her eight overs, and also accounted for the run out of Sciver at the crucial stage of the match. Shikha Pandey (2-21) and Deepti Sharma (2-33) cleaned up the top and middle order, with Bisht running through the lower order in the 41st over. India's pace spearhead Jhulan Goswami kept it tight giving away just 19 runs in eight overs scalping Georgia Elwiss. The English inning was done and dusted for 136 in 41 overs, thus falling short of 66 runs.

Ekta Bisht was awarded as the Player of the Match for her brilliant bowling performance. The two teams will meet on Monday for the second ODI at the same venue.


Source: BCCIWomen Photo



     

The Indian Women’s Cricket “Raj”

Mithali Raj has broken yet another record, and this time it is the number of ODI appearances that she has made over her long and illustrious career stretching over 20 years. On February 1, India skipper Mithali Raj became the first woman cricketer to feature in 200 one-day internationals, surpassing former England captain Charlotte Edwards’ record of 191 ODIs.

At the tender age of 16, the school going Mithali Raj made her ODI debut against Ireland in Milton Keynes in January 1999. Since then, Raj has been an indisputable pillar of strength in the Indian women’s cricket team. The veteran batswoman is also the highest run getter in the world with 6622 runs at a stellar average of 51.33. In addition to her envious ODI feat, Mithali Raj is the first Indian cricketer, both male or female, to reach the 2000-run milestone in T20 internationals.

Mithali Raj quit dancing for cricket and made the best of bowlers dance to her tunes. An inspiration for budding and young women cricketers, Mithali has to her name Arjuna award in recognition of her achievement in sports in 2003 and Padma Shri award, India’s fourth highest civilian award that was conferred on her in 2015. Scoring over a 6500 runs in one day cricket, it is her selfless contribution to the game of cricket and her ‘drive’ to succeed at the highest level is what defines best the Indian women’s cricket ‘Raj’.

The prolific batswoman was born on December 3, 1982 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Her father, Dorai Raj, was an officer in the Indian Air Force and Leela Raj is her mother. Though she was born in Rajasthan, she was brought up in Hyderabad. Travelling from north-west part of India to the south, Mithali now lives in Hyderabad, Telangana. She attended St. Johns school, Hyderabad for cricket coaching in her school days along with her elder brother. She has practised classical dance for eight years. She quit her dance to pursue her cricket career. Mithali started playing cricket at the tender age of 10, when she was just in the fifth grade and just after six years when she turned 16, she was picked for the Indian team. “Playing for India was never thought of. It just happened. Everything went so quickly that with a wink of an eye I was donning the Indian colours”, says Mithali.

Raj idolized Kapil Dev and started off her cricket as an opening medium pace bowler and an opening batswoman.  However with the passage of time, Mithali as a batswoman took the better off Mithali as an opening medium pace bowler. She started concentrating on her batting and honing her batting skills. As she could not devote much time to medium pace bowling, she dropped it from her armoury and picked up the leg break hat from her bag full of many colourful hats.

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup of 2005 opened the doors of captainship for Raj. She was just 22 years old then when she was bestowed with the responsibility of leading her side. “I was never a born leader. So the initial phase of captainship was a little difficult for me. But seeing India through to the World Cup gave me immense confidence and helped me to believe that yes I can lead the Indian women’s cricket team”, expressed Mithali. As a captain, she looked up to one of the most successful Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting. She says, “Just like Ponting, I was asked to shoulder the responsibility of the side which composed of a few more senior players than me. I observed his leadership skills and the way he managed the youngsters and the seniors in the team”. Raj had a bunch of senior players like Anju Jain, Anjum Chopra, Neetu David, Hemlata Kala to name a few, which made the captainship task look daunting. Deriving inspiration from Ponting, she confidently led her team to two World Cup finals in 2005 and 2015.

The 36-year old from Jodhpur is no stranger to record books. Very few can forget the memorable double-century she scored in England. Her majestic 214 in Taunton back in 1999, when she was a mere 19-year-old, was then the world record for the highest individual score in Women’s Test cricket. The highest run getter in women’s ODI cricket and the first Indian to score 2000 runs in T20I are two of the most celebrated records held by the Indian captain.

Source: Hindustan Times