Smriti Mandhana gives her Player of the Match award to the Indian bowlers

India Women are currently in New Zealand where they are taking part in a three-match ODI series. The visitors won the first match comprehensively by nine wickets and they carried on with the momentum in the second encounter at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. The Women in Blue, captained by Mithali Raj, not only won the contest by eight wickets but also emerged victorious in the series.

India bowled Amy Satterthwaite and Co out for a paltry 161 in 44.2 overs. Apart from the partnership of 58 runs between the skipper and Leigh Kasperek, none of the White Ferns’ batswomen could put up a substantial score. The Indian bowlers had a day to remember as barring Dayalan Hemalatha, every other bowler picked up at least a wicket with Jhulan Goswami being the most successful with three wickets.

In the meantime, Smriti Mandhana, the Player of the Match, gave her away to the Indian bowlers during the presentation ceremony, mentioning that they deserve it more than her. From a personal perspective, she has had a stupendous outing thus far in New Zealand.

“I will be giving this award to all the bowlers in the team. They deserve it for bowling New Zealand Women out for 161 on such a track,” Mandhana mentioned. In the first match, the women’s prodigy racked up 105 runs and helped her team gun down 193 with 17 overs to spare.

Happy times for Smriti Mandhana

She didn’t flatter to deceive in the second ODI as well, scoring 90 runs from 83 deliveries with the help of 13 boundaries and an over-boundary. She opened the batting and saw a couple of quick wickets going down in the form of Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma. However, she didn’t lose her cool and went about in her own merry way. She wasn’t attacking to start with but picked up gradually.

The 22-year-old accomplished her half-century in 54 balls to put her team in a commanding position. Moreover, the Maharashtra-born shared an unbeaten stand of 151 runs with Mithali, who also impressed with a well-compiled 63 from 111 balls, as the visiting team won with 88 balls to spare.

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