We panicked, confesses Mithali Raj
Praising the England players for winning their fourth Women’s Cricket World Cup title, India skipper Mithali Raj rued that the inexperience of her teammates and their inability to hold their nerves during the crucial moments proved to be the difference between the two teams in the final.
India suffered a spectacular middle and lower order batting collapse to lose by nine runs to England in a nail-biting final of the ICC Women’s World Cup at Lord’s on Sunday.
“It wasn’t easy for England but credit to them for holding their nerve. There was as time when the match was in the balance and could have gone either way. But that was the situation when we panicked and they came out victorious. England did well in those crunch moments which turned the game,” Mithali said.
Electing to bat first, England produced a competitive total of 228 for seven in their 50 overs.The Indian eves rode halfcenturies from opener Punam Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur to almost overhauling the target. Punam scored 86 runs off 115 balls while Harmanpreet scored 51 off 80.
Punam and Harmanpreet added 95 runs between them in 128 balls and helped to steady the Indian innings following the loss of two early wickets.
However, the Indian eves seemed to lose their wits towards the end, losing seven wickets for 28 runs to be all out for 219.
“I want to tell my girls that I am very proud of them, the way made a comeback into the tournament. They didn’t make any match easy for any of the other teams. I would also like to thank the crowds for coming up in large numbers to support women’s cricket,” said Mithali.
MITHALI NAMED SKIPPER OF WORLD CUP XI
Mithali has been named captain of the Team of ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 that was announced on Monday. Apart from Mithali, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma were also picked.