122/10 (37.4)
CR : 3.24
265/8 (50.0)
CR : 5.30
India Women won by 143 runs 🏆
Player of the Match
Smriti Mandhana
117(127)
Asha Shobana: "I just kept it simple, wanted to bowl in the right areas and wanted to continue the same. I have been practicing since years. Didn't wanted to anything extraordinary. Wanted to trust my basics and strengths.
There was a lot of turn in the wicket. So I didn't want to give them lot of space. I wanted to bowl at some point of time and then pull the length back as well to not allow the batters to see my variations.
This stadium is very special for me. Amazing experience being here, by the grace of god, everything went well. Pitch is amazing and a bit of my work also (chuckles).
I woke up in the morning and prayed to god to everything to go well. I bowled in the right areas, I am glad that the team won. The management told me to go out there and explore, they had the confidence on me.
I just want to contribute to my nation. I am really happy for that. I don't really think about missing a 5-wicket haul."
There was a lot of turn in the wicket. So I didn't want to give them lot of space. I wanted to bowl at some point of time and then pull the length back as well to not allow the batters to see my variations.
This stadium is very special for me. Amazing experience being here, by the grace of god, everything went well. Pitch is amazing and a bit of my work also (chuckles).
I woke up in the morning and prayed to god to everything to go well. I bowled in the right areas, I am glad that the team won. The management told me to go out there and explore, they had the confidence on me.
I just want to contribute to my nation. I am really happy for that. I don't really think about missing a 5-wicket haul."
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa Women Captain): "Yeah, obviously not the ideal way to start the series. However, I think there were a few positives throughout. I thought 260 was a fairly decent score.
We just needed one person to bat through, and it was fairly chaseable. Just disappointing how we went with the bat. Yeah, we only had the five out and our bowlers going into the game, but I think they did pretty well.
I think we could have been a little bit better with our control but I thought 265 wasn't too bad. I think being 30 for three is probably not ideal. Whether it was my dismissal or Tazmin's earlier, it just didn't work out for us in the back end. We definitely need to regroup. We couldn't find a way to dismiss Smriti Mandhana."
We just needed one person to bat through, and it was fairly chaseable. Just disappointing how we went with the bat. Yeah, we only had the five out and our bowlers going into the game, but I think they did pretty well.
I think we could have been a little bit better with our control but I thought 265 wasn't too bad. I think being 30 for three is probably not ideal. Whether it was my dismissal or Tazmin's earlier, it just didn't work out for us in the back end. We definitely need to regroup. We couldn't find a way to dismiss Smriti Mandhana."
Gamechanger of the Match: Smriti Mandhana (143 fantasy points)
Indian Strike of the match: Smriti Mandhana
Smart Saver of the match: Marizanne Kapp for her fielding effort
Harmanpreet Kaur (India Captain): "Smriti and Deepti, because of them its a good start. Pooja also contributed well. It was a good team performance. We showed good energy.
Message was clear, just be there and keep at yourself. We have a long batting order and we know everybody cannot contribute. 2-3 players do the job and today Smriti, Deepti and Pooja did that for us.
The allrounders love the format as you have time to execute your plans. Very happy with their performance and contribution to the team.
We already discussed going with 5 bowlers and maybe myself, Hemalatha or Shafali will bowl 2 or 3 overs if needed. Hoping that Pooja is fine and the injury is not that bad."
Message was clear, just be there and keep at yourself. We have a long batting order and we know everybody cannot contribute. 2-3 players do the job and today Smriti, Deepti and Pooja did that for us.
The allrounders love the format as you have time to execute your plans. Very happy with their performance and contribution to the team.
We already discussed going with 5 bowlers and maybe myself, Hemalatha or Shafali will bowl 2 or 3 overs if needed. Hoping that Pooja is fine and the injury is not that bad."
Smriti Mandhana is the player of the match!
Smriti Mandhana (Player of the Match): " I'm really happy that I could contribute, and as we discussed, starting the tournament well is the most important thing. So I'm really pleased that we achieved a hundred-plus run victory. Nothing could be better than that.
Yeah, as I mentioned in the flash interview, it's been a task in the last four or five net sessions to remind ourselves not to go aerial and focus on playing more grounded shots, especially because we've played a lot of T20 cricket.
Today, it was about playing the situation again. We lost a few wickets in the middle, so it was crucial to build a partnership. Credit to Deepti and Pooja; whenever they came in, they kept the scoreboard moving, which really helped us as set batters. I'm really happy about that. It all comes down to playing the situation.
In one-day cricket and white-ball cricket, there are days when one or two batters step up. As a batting unit, we are all together in this. It's my role at those times to take the team through."
Yeah, as I mentioned in the flash interview, it's been a task in the last four or five net sessions to remind ourselves not to go aerial and focus on playing more grounded shots, especially because we've played a lot of T20 cricket.
Today, it was about playing the situation again. We lost a few wickets in the middle, so it was crucial to build a partnership. Credit to Deepti and Pooja; whenever they came in, they kept the scoreboard moving, which really helped us as set batters. I'm really happy about that. It all comes down to playing the situation.
In one-day cricket and white-ball cricket, there are days when one or two batters step up. As a batting unit, we are all together in this. It's my role at those times to take the team through."
That's all from the inaugural match of the series, folks! India Women win by a massive margin to go 1-0 up in the series. Thank you for staying with us throughout the contest. For now, this is Deepak Prakash signing off on behalf of co-commentator Ninaad Dixit and scorer/analyst Vishnu Verma. CHEERS!