Fans and players are all praise for India’s Women Cricket team after their notable performance in their ongoing tour of Australia for a multi-format series. Not only have the women in blue successfully broken Australia’s ODI winning streak, but the way also they have performed during their first-ever pink ball test is worth appreciating making the rain-hit match end in a draw.
It was a display of a complete team performance led by Smriti Mandhana from the front with her 127 during the first innings and 31 in the second innings. Along with her, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma made crucial half-centuries in the first and the second innings respectively to post a good total.
Smriti became the first Indian woman to score a century in the pink ball test and her 127 was the highest individual test score in Australia by a woman. This left-hand opener was adjudged as the Player of the Match and received appreciation from many including former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir.
Game recognizes game!#AUSvIND #GautamGambhir #SmritiMandhana pic.twitter.com/KHaHKnXjjz
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 6, 2021
Gambhir wrote in a column for The Times of India,
“Just because she bats left-handed (like me), I am not biased towards Smriti Mandhana. I genuinely believe that along with a few others, she has a pair of shoulders that can carry the Indian women’s game for a long period. Mandhana is easy on the eye, someone who has based her batting on timing rather than power. She operates in partnerships, can place the ball in gaps as if she is operating with a Google locator. Success sits easily with her, and she has recently touched 5 million followers on Instagram. I wasn’t sure to mention the last trait of ‘The Mandhana Package’ but then my social media team was insistent.”
Gambhir also mentioned that despite India’s biggest cricketing festival, the Indian Premier League currently underway in UAE, Mandhana’s performance went on to be the highlight, getting media attention which is definitely a good sign for women’s cricket.
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