ENG-W vs IND-W, 2nd ODI: 'We couldn't adapt to conditions quickly,' says Smriti Mandhana
After making a strong start to the series with a four-wicket in the opening match at Southampton, India received an eight-wicket hammering in a rain-curtailed game at the Lord's on Saturday night.
Except vice-captain Mandhana (42) and Deepti Sharma (30 not out), no Indian batter could offer a solid resistance to England bowlers as they managed only 143 for eight in 29 overs.
'I think as a batting unit, we couldn't adapt to the conditions quickly. We tried to play some shots which were maybe not, like, it was not easy on these sort of wickets, especially Lord's,' Mandhana told reporters at the post-match press conference. Mandhana did admit that prolonged rain break before the start of the game did affect the concentration.
'Rain curtailed matches are always very hard in terms of getting your focus right because, of course, it was a long wait period. And losing the toss in these sort of matches doesn't help a lot. But, yeah, it's a good test for all of us. There are a few things which we could have gotten better.' The elegant southpaw said getting runs at Lord's is always a grind and her team will return after taking some crucial lessons.
'A lot of girls played here for the first time. The excitement was quite high. So I'm sure a lot of people took a lot of memories and, of course, a lot of learning as well..
Mandhana said the last eight years have been phenomenal for women cricketers in India.
'It's been a journey since 2017 for women's cricket, especially back in India. We all were really disappointed that we could not win that day but when we went back home and the kind of reception we got, everyone started knowing a lot about women's cricket..
'In the last eight years, I mean, wherever we play, we feel like it's home. People come out and watch us, criticise us, appreciate us, which is all good because, I mean, it's just on a rise in terms of people knowing and wanting to watch women's cricket, which is a great thing.'.
Mandhana was also asked about the 'Deepti Sharma Mankading incident' at Lord's back in September, 2022. Deepti had run-out Charlie Dean at the non-striker's end when the home batter backed up too far when the off-spinner was on delivery stride.
It had sparked a debate about dismissal's legality and 'Spirit of Cricket' had once again reared its ugly head.
'It doesn't happen, right? You come to Lord's and that question is not asked. I think we didn't really think anything about all of that incident,' Mandhana said.
'Only when today, I think, there was one random appeal for Tammy Beaumont when that happened. And, again, Deepti was bullying. That's when we cracked the joke.
'The whole match, last time when we won, of course, it was overshadowed quite a lot because of that one incident. But I would say the way we all actually played cricket in terms of that whole series.
'One incident cannot overshadow it. And the chat was only about how good we played and we have to just keep continuing that. '
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