Mithali Raj reckons totals in excess of 250 good for women's cricket

The Indian Women’s Cricket Team kicked off their World Cup campaign in style by defeating hosts England comfortably by 35 runs on Saturday. India posted a total of 281 in the first innings, courtesy of a 144-run opening partnership by Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana. Incidentally, 281 was India’s highest ever total batting first.

Skipper Mithali Raj chipped in with what became her 7th straight fifty in women’s ODI cricket, a world record, and was dismissed off the final ball of the innings on 71. In response, England lost wickets at regular intervals and failed to stitch a lasting partnership. For India the pick of the bowlers Deepthi Sharma bagged 3 wickets, while Shikha Pandey picked up 2.

In the post-match press conference, the Indian captain Mithali Raj lauded the team’s performance and stated that posting totals in excess of 250 is good for the overall development of women’s cricket.

No World Cup pressure on India openers

“The way both of them started the innings… with the conditions assisting the bowlers and that’s why they (England) elected to field, it didn’t feel like they were playing the World Cup or there was any kind of pressure or nerves on them, they just played on merit and kept going till 25 overs,” she said.

“Half the overs being played by the openers I think that’s a great opening stand and we look forward for similar opening partnerships in coming games because if you have a solid opening stands your middle-order will come exactly when we are supposed to come and carry on from there, and that makes it much easier to post 250 and above, which is very good for the overall game of women’s cricket,” Mithali added.

The skipper also toppled the record for most international fifties by a female cricketer. She overtook the previous record set by England’s Charlotte Edwards, who had 46 fifties from 191 games. She also maintained her dream run in international cricket by bringing up her 7th consecutive fifty on Saturday.

Records, not a priority

However, the humble Mithali Raj said she wants to keep her focus on the game and not on achieving milestones. “I definitely don’t want to be reminded about it, but it feels nice to get runs under your belt, feels nice to get runs for the team in the World Cup and the team does well, I am hoping that I continue to do that,” the skipper said.

India’s victory over England was a significant one, as they had lost to the team on all previous six encounters over the last 5 years. According to Mithali Raj, the win was significant for other reasons as well.

“This game definitely makes a lot of impact for the Indian team, because posting 280 on the board this is the highest that we have posted batting first and winning against the hosts and with you so many players who are playing their first World Cup. Definitely there is a lot to improve on in terms of catches and stumpings. Since we have a fielding coach now I hope we can really improve in that department,” Mithali further added.

The Decision Review System has been introduced in the women’s game and Mithali Raj was all for it.

“DRS is a good edition to the women’s game because if you see most of the dismissals were very close, even the run outs were by few inches, so it makes sense to have DRS,” she concluded.

The Indian Women’s Team next go head to head against the Windies on Thursday at Taunton.