When I retire after the World Cup, the squad will be even stronger: Mithali Raj
India captain Mithali Raj stated on Thursday that when she retires after the forthcoming 50-over World Cup, the side would be a lot better because of the young talent. When I retire after this tournament, I will see that the squad is a lot better with the forthcoming young talent,” Mithali remarked after the fifth One-Day International against New Zealand.
Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, and Harmanpreet Kaur led India to a six-wicket victory against New Zealand in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) on Thursday at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown.
It’s encouraging to see that we’ve progressed in previous games leading up to the World Cup. It was necessary to prepare well before the big tournament. Due to the increasing number of Omicron cases, we were unable to secure the camps in India, “Mithali said.
It looked like the batting conditions were good today, but the bowlers did admirable work. Our fielding is an area where we need to improve. When I retire after this tournament, I will see that the squad has become significantly stronger with the addition of new players,” she continued.
India won their first match of the series, but the White Ferns won the ODI series 4-1.
Chasing 252, India’s opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana put on 29 runs before being dismissed in the fifth over by Hayley Jensen (9). Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma then put on an unbeaten partnership of 60 runs for the second wicket.
The partnership was broken, however, by Fran Jonas, who defeated Deepti (21) and brought Harmanpreet Kaur to the forefront. At first, Mandhana and Harmanpreet put up 64 runs, but as soon as India had full control, Jensen outplayed Mandhana (71) and India was reduced to 153/3, still 99 runs short of the objective.
Harmanpreet Kaur ended her half-century drought. However, with India 27 runs short of the objective, Harmanpreet (63) lost her wicket. However, captain Mithali Raj (57*) and Richa Ghosh (7*) ensured that India won easily
