Indian cricket legend Mithali Raj has some worries over the Indian Women’s cricket team’s bowling line-up in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. While the batting line-up has pleased the former cricketer, she 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 highlights that the batting line-up with Smriti Mandhana and the other batters looks sharp and promising as all of the batters are well aware of their role. But in the bowling department, Raj does not see the clarity that the needs to take their momentum into the next phase of the T20 World Cup.
Mithalu Raj is impressed with Smriti Mandhana’s batting
As of now, the Indian Women’s cricket team remains undefeated as they have defeated the arch-rival Pakistan and then the Netherlands in back-to-back games. The fixture against South Africa will be a real challenge for them as the Proteas are also one of the contenders for the title.
Mithali Raj says that Smriti Mandhana has shown a lot of promise so far in the contest, as she knows what to do under challenging circumstances. Even without Shafali Varma and Jemimah Rodrigues on the other front of the track, she did not loose his mindset, which has impressed Mithali Raj a lot.
“Batting, I think Smriti Mandhana is doing great. I’ve really been very impressed with the way she’s shown game awareness, losing Shefali or Jemimah, but she still kept her cool, you know, she had a plan in how she wants to execute or get her innings through,” the former India captain said to Hindustan Times on JioStar Media Day.
The former skipper mentioned Richa Ghosh as well
Along with praising Smriti Mandhana’s role, she mentioned Richa Ghosh, as well who adds extra firepower in the batting attack. She often comes late in the batting order and makes an immediate impact with explosive cameos.
“She held one end, and then she had partnerships with the other batters. And Richa is such an integral part of that batting unit coming in the last five, six overs,” she added, praising Smriti Mandhana.
Madhana showed his class in both of the previous matches against Pakistan and the Netherlands. While she claimed 68 against Pakistan, she returned with 74 against the Netherlands.
Mithali Raj shouts for clarity in the bowlings
As the competition for the silverware will be more intense in the upcoming days, Mithali points out the fragile part of the team. For her, it is the bowling department, which contains Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, and Shree Charani.
She said that that particular section lacks clarity. “Who is our strike bowler?” Mithali raises the question during the event. Along with the striking bowler, she believes that she has doubts about who will step in to stop the opposing batters from scoring runs.
“My concern, of course, is greatly in terms of the bowling… who are our strike bowlers? Who are the ones who are going to get us wickets? Who are the ones who are going to consolidate or, you know, tighten the run flow? There has to be that role clarity in the bowling department, which I feel is sort of, you know, it’s missing in a sense,” Mithali Raj reveals her concerns.
