New Delhi [India], March 12 (ANI): India women’s ODI skipper Mithali Raj feels the frontline bowlers failed to shine in the third game against South Africa on Friday. Lizelle Lee smashed a sensational century to help South African women beat India by six runs (DLS method) in the third ODI.
Harmanpreet Kaur gave away 10 runs in the second last over before rain interrupted the play but Mithali feels South Africa were already ahead in the game. The Indian skipper admitted that the premier bowlers failed to shift the momentum in the hosts’ favour.
“I don’t think so (Harmanpreet’s 10-run over costing India). There were moments in the game when the main bowlers were bowling an important spell which could have changed the momentum of the team and we weren’t able to do that. And when she (Harmanpreet) came into bowl I think they were already ahead according to the DLS method. So I don’t think it would have made much of a difference,” Mithali said while replying to a query from ANI in a virtual press conference.
Mithali also said her side needs to have a considerable amount of matches before the hosts get into the groove. The skipper cited how other teams had started playing cricket post-pandemic while India began quite late.
“When we played against Australia or say England we are looking to score 270 plus but having said that, this is our third game after a long gap and we are one of those countries which started cricket quite late whereas other teams have already played a couple of series,” Mithali said.
“So we need to have some game time to work or players so that we build a game plan for future series,” she further said.
“And those will become important for how we plan for the World Cup and what are the things where we need to work on. It’s going to be a process and we have already started on it, after such a long gap the girls clearly need some outing out there,” Mithali added.
The two teams will now lock horns in the fourth ODI at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Sunday. (ANI)
