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Indian cricket legend Mithali Raj is somewhat worried about the bowling line-up of the Indian women’s cricket team in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. While the batting line-up has pleased the former cricketer, he is not satisfied with the bowlers.
Ahead of the team’s next match, which will be against South Africa on Sunday, June 21, Mithali Raj highlighted that the batting line-up looks sharp and promising with Smriti Mandhana and other batsmen as all the batsmen are well aware of their roles. But Raj is lacking the clarity in the bowling department that he needs to carry his momentum into the next phase of the T20 World Cup.
Mitalu Raj is impressed with Smriti Mandhana’s batting
So far, the Indian women’s cricket team remains undefeated as they have defeated arch-rivals Pakistan and then Netherlands in two consecutive matches. The match against South Africa will be a real challenge for them as the Proteas are also one of the title contenders.
Mithali Raj says that Smriti Mandhana has shown a lot of potential in the competition so far, because she knows what to do in challenging situations. Even without Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues on the other side of the track, she has not lost her mindset, which has impressed Mithali Raj.
“In batting, I think Smriti Mandhana is doing very well. I am really impressed by the way she has shown awareness of the game by beating Shafali or Jemimah, but still she kept herself calm, you know, she had a plan as to how she wanted to execute or carry on with her innings,” the former India captain told Hindustan Times at the JioStar media day.
The former captain also mentioned Richa Ghosh
While praising Smriti Mandhana’s role, he also mentioned Richa Ghosh, who adds extra firepower to the batting attack. She often comes into the batting order late and makes an instant impact with explosive cameos.
He praised Smriti Mandhana, saying, “She holds one end and then builds partnerships with other batsmen. And Richa is an integral part of the batting unit coming in the last five, six overs.”
Madhana had shown his class in both the last matches against Pakistan and Netherlands. While she scored 68 runs against Pakistan, she returned with 74 runs against Netherlands.
Mithali Raj demands clarity in bowling
As the competition for silverware will get more intense in the coming days, Mithali points to the delicate part of the team. For them, it is the bowling department, which includes Kranti Goud, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav and Sri Charani.
He said there is a lack of clarity in that particular section. “Who is our strike bowler?” Mithali raised a question during the event. Along with the striking bowler, he believes that he also has doubts about who will step up to stop the opposition batsmen from scoring runs.
Mithali Raj revealed her concerns, saying, “Obviously my concern is around the bowling… Who are our strike bowlers? Who are they who are going to get us wickets? Who are they who are going to strengthen or, you know, strengthen the run flow? That role has to be clear in the bowling department, which I think, you know, is kind of lacking.”
