'Just taking it one match at a time' - Pratika Rawal after India dominating first ODI win vs IRE-W

India Women registered a commanding six-wicket victory against Ireland Women in the first ODI of the series in Rajkot. The relatively inexperienced bowling unit limited the visitors to 238 before handy contributions from the openers and Tejal Hasabnis guided the side to their 13th win against Ireland in W-ODIs.

Player of the Match, Pratika Rawal, commended her skipper's cooling presence on her during when they were batting together. She also elaborated on her thought process during her match-winning knock 96-ball 89-run knock.

"I am comfortable here. It helps a lot, always enjoy watching Mandhana from the other end. It eases me down. Being a student of Psychology also helps to stay calm. We were just trying to keep it simple, we had a good start. We just had to carry on the momentum. At the end, Tejal also played really well. We all played well, in fact. I am not thiking about the results, not thinking about the big numbers, just taking it one match at a time. Whenever the ball is in my slot, I try to hit boundaries. Otherwise, I just try to push it down the ground," shared Rawal during the post-match presentation.

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Need to stick to our routine and do all the right things: Mandhana 

Standby skipper of the ODI side, Smriti Mandhana, complimented the bowling attack and Hasabnis for attaining her maiden half-century. She hoped for the level of fielding to improve from the next game onwards. Overall, she shared positive sentiments in relation to the victory. 

"To bowl on these wickets, the bowlers did a good job. Need to get better at fielding. Really happy for our batters. Tejal finished off well. We had good conversations over the last few days, knowing your bowlers is really important. Executing the slower ones was important. It was a perfect day for us. We should have restricted them to 180, will be aiming to do that going forward. We have to go out there and execute our plans, that's going to be important. Matches are won by the things we do behind the scenes. Need to stick to our routine and do all the right things," added Mandhana.

Earlier in the day, debutant pace-bowling all-rounder, Sayali Satghare, came to the party and bowled splendidly well after getting dispatched in her inaugural over in international cricket. She ended up conceding only 43 runs in her allotted quota. Saima Thakor ended up as the most-economical bowler of the lot. Mandhana looked well-set for a big score, but was dismissed on the final delivery of the 10th over of the run-chase.