Chasing India’s target with her scintillating innings, India captain Mithali Raj on Saturday said she wants to work hard not only to finish the game but also to guide her young teammates. On the day she became the highest run-scorer in women’s cricket across all formats, Mithali scored an unbeaten 75 to help India chase down the target of 220 runs in the final ODI and give India a consolation win.
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The game got a bit tense in the end but Mithali held her nerves.
“I never gave up in the middle. It’s in the middle, because you can’t win a match sitting in the dugout. I wanted to win games for the team,” Mithali said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We just needed a good partnership to move forward. I knew I could manage the game in the middle overs, but when you have young players you have to guide them.
“I have enjoyed chasing. I wanted to be there and win games for the team, I picked bowlers to attack as well as guide Sneh Rana. It is always good to have an all-rounder in the team. “That (affection) has been phenomenal for us throughout the series.”
England captain Heather Knight said he was “a bit disappointed” with the final result but it was a “very good game”.
“We were a few runs short on a slow wicket. It was difficult to hit boundaries and we should have got more singles. We should score 240-250 runs every time.”
“We lost crucial wickets at crucial times, we needed to keep wickets in the last five overs and go big. We tried to see different people in different roles today as the series came to an end, but I trusted (Katherine) Brunt and (Sophie) Ecclestone to get the game done today.”
Ecclestone, who was named Player of the Series, said that the team is determined to do well in the upcoming T20.
He said, ‘We have to come back strongly in T20. It is good enough to trust the captain. She (Mithali) batted well today and had the right pace for her innings. It’s nice to have Glennie on the team, we’re the same age and have the same musical taste.”
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