The Indian women’s team, led by the stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana in the absence of the regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, hosted Ireland, led by skipper Gaby Lewis, for the first time in India for a three-match bilateral ODI series from 10th to 15th January 2025. India was comprehensive through the series completing a convincing whitewash in the ODI series.
The series was an absolute run-fest at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, in Rajkot. Multiple records were created and broken with each game in the series. The visitors, Ireland posted their highest total against India (254/7) and overall, their 6th highest total in the Women’s ODIs on 12th January 2025, in the 2nd ODI of the recently concluded series against India.
The Women in Blue also posted their highest total of 370/5 in the ODI format in the same game, the 2nd ODI in Rajkot, surpassing their previous best of 358/2 against Ireland on 15th May 2017 in the 8th match of the Quadrangular series at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom.
The record had a very short lifespan as India only became the 3rd side after New Zealand and Australia, to breach the 400-run mark in the Women’s ODIs. They posted a mammoth total of 435/5 in the 3rd and final ODI of the series at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot. It is also overall the 4th highest total in the history of Women’s ODIs.
“Yeah definitely, I think putting 400-plus, these are really good signs for women’s cricket. I mean, I know the wicket was really good to bat on. Rajkot is always a good wicket to bat on, but really pleased with all the girls, and the way they batted today. And even when they came out to bowl, I think really clinical with their performance,” said Smriti Mandhana about the evolving landscape in women’s cricket, while also praising her batters for the kind of intent they showed in the 3rd ODI of the series.
The Indian skipper herself is high on confidence as she is going through a purple patch with the bat, especially in the ODI format. She finished the series as the 2nd highest run-scorer of the series with 249 runs at a sensational strike rate of 152.76 and a mind-boggling average of 83 in three innings. Her tally of runs in the series includes a half-century and a century (135 off 80 balls) in the 3rd ODI of the series.
She also topped the run-scoring charts in the format last year, 2024, with 747 runs at a strike rate of 95.15 and an impressive average of 57.46 in 13 innings with the bat for India. She smashed 3 half-centuries and 4 centuries in the format last year, which also made her the first woman player to score 4 centuries in the ODI format in a calendar year. Her best performance with the bat for her side in the format last year came on 19th June 2024 in the 2nd ODI against South Africa when she scored a classic century (136 off 120 balls) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru.
One of the biggest takeaways for India from the series against Ireland was the emergence of the 24-year-old opening batter Pratika Rawal, especially in terms of her consistency and temperament. She was the leading run-scorer in the series with 310 runs at a strike rate of 108.39 and a monstrous average of 103.33 in three innings with the bat for her side in the series.
Her tally of runs in the series included a couple of half-centuries and her maiden century (154 off 129 balls) in the 3rd ODI of the series. With that knock, she also now holds the record for the highest individual score for an Indian batter in the Women’s ODIs at home surpassing stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana’s 136 against South Africa in Bengaluru.
Her 154 is also the 2nd highest individual score by an Indian opening batter after Deepti Sharma (188) and also the 3rd highest individual score by an Indian batter after Deepti Sharma (188) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (171*). Pratika Rawal also now has the most number of runs (444 runs) by any batter in Women’s ODIs in her first 6 innings in the format.
“I’m really pleased with the way she’s batting. I feel she has a really calm head on her shoulders and knows what she’s doing. She has both sorts of games where she can accelerate as well and play the defensive role, which is great as a batter to have. To see her rise from the first One Day against West Indies to now, it’s really nice and a good runner between the wickets as well. I think it converts the 1s into 2s, which always helps in one-day cricket. So I’m really happy for her and I hope she keeps continuing the form because it’s a big year for us,” Mandhana heaped praises and words of appreciation for the youngster.
India’s new opening duo of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal have got on really nicely with each other. The pair has three 100+ opening partnerships, one 150+ stand and one 200+ opening partnership in their 6 innings while opening the batting together for India so far in the ODI format. Only once have they had a partnership of less than 50, which came in the 3rd ODI against the West Indies in December 2024.
(Quotes sourced from Cricbuzz)
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