Indian captain Mithali Raj on Sunday praised Ekta Bisht’s efforts with the ball as the left-arm spinner came up with figures of 5/18 to propel her team to a clinical 95-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday in Derby in the Women’s World Cup.
“I wanted to go in with the experience of Jhulan (Goswami) and (Ekta) Bisht,” said Raj at the post-match press conference, when quizzed on why she opened the bowling with those bowlers. “I’m really happy that Ekta rose up to the occasion and delivered what the team required.”
India’s batters did not have a great day, being restricted to 169/9 after opting to bat. The captain admitted that that was something they were looking at improving but heaped praise on wicket-keeper Sushma Verma and Goswami for taking their score towards the 170-mark.
“The advice or suggestion that we gave to the batters was to play till the 40th over but unfortunately again we lost wickets and in the end we had Sushma and Jhulan, those runs were crucial because it got us to 170 and we were looking for that score when we lost the top 4,” said Raj.
But, once India had reached that score, the captain knew that they had a chance.
“When we reached 170, I knew it was just a matter of taking those early breakthroughs because no matter how good a chasing team, there is always pressure of a good start even if you are chasing 150,” said Raj. “The wicket did deteriorate later on because the spinners did get a lot of turn.”
The 24-year-old Verma showed a lot of prowess with the bat in her 35-ball 33 which was vital in the scheme of things. “I was waiting for this opportunity,” she said. “I’ve understood I will have minimum balls to face, I need to make maximum impact. Today, there was such an opportunity.”