India's ODI vice-captain Smriti Mandhana could not finish the job as she lost her wicket in the 42nd over of run chase against England in ICC Women's World Cup 2025 clash. Mandhana was visibly heartbroken by India's four-run loss despite being in a good position. In the post-match press conference, she did not want to talk about her knock of 88 runs from 94 balls as it came in a losing cause.
“I wouldn’t really want to talk about my innings because it doesn’t mean anything because we lost," Mandhana told the reporters in Indore.
When Mandhana departed, India were 234/4 from 41.2 overs. They needed 55 runs from 52 balls to win the match. She got out trying to play an aerial shot. She took the blame for the defeat and admitted that the shot selection from India batters late in the run chase were not ideal as the required run rate was not towering.
“Our batting collapsed; everyone saw that. I think our shot selections at that time… we could have done better with our shot selections. Especially it started from me, so I will take it on me that the shot selection should have been better. We just needed six runs per over. We should have maybe taken the game deeper. So yeah, I will take it from myself, because the collapse started from me," she added.
India’s next clash a virtual quarterfinal?
Despite the defeat, India are still placed fourth on the points table, above New Zealand with same number of points. Their next clash is against the Sophie Devine-led White Ferns on October 23 at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai. It is a must-win game. The match on October 23 can be considered as virtual quarterfinal.
"In cricket, nothing comes easy. You don't play cricket to have easy days. We'll all take this in our strides. We all know where we could have gotten done better, where we went wrong. We all know all of those things and if you're playing a sport, you're meant to have good days and bad days. It's about how you take those bad days and move on and see how we can get the best in terms of against New Zealand," Mandhana said looking ahead to the next game.
India's last league match is against Bangladesh who have impressed in the tournament so far. Their only win came against Pakistan in their campaign opener.
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