India captain Mithali Raj admits that batting is a concern as India suffered a 62-run defeat against New Zealand in Women’s ODI World Cup 2022 here in Hamilton at Seddon Park on Thursday.
Raj has urged the top order to find their form and she added that bowlers are working to face West Indies on Saturday. “I think we need to do better with the bat, the top-order needs to fire because in this tournament, when you’re chasing 250 or 270, you need to score runs,” said Mithali Raj in the post-match presentation.
“Our bowlers have done well today but that is something we are working on for when we face West Indies [on Saturday]. Raj emphasized that losing wickets at regular intervals against New Zealand puts a lot of pressure on the team. She added the team should have done better as nothing was unplayable in the match.
“It was chaseable but we were losing wickets and keeping the run-rate low enough was tough. They put a lot of pressure on us because they knew we didn’t have a batter capable of taking the team through.
“I think there was bounce but it was a bit slow onto the bat. The New Zealand seamers were hitting the right areas but it wasn’t something that was unplayable and we could have done better.”
New Zealand player Amelia Kerr starred with all-round show as she smashed fifty and took three wickets as she helped the home team in thrashing India by 62 runs. Indian batter Harmanpreet Kaur’s fighting knock of 71 went in vain. Amy Satterthwaite and Amelia Kerr played brilliant innings of 75 and 50 respectively. For Women in Blue, Pooja Vastrakar scalped four wickets and was involved in a crucial ran out, while Rajeshwari Gayakwad dismissed two players.