India women’s coach Ramesh Powar wanted the top order of the team to fire seeking the batters to contribute more towards the final total after Indian batting was found lacking in their tie against New Zealand in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup 2022.
Well, that issue got sorted out real quick as Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur slammed exquisite centuries in their third match of the tournament against the West Indies on March 12, 2022, in Hamilton.
Mithali Raj had won the toss and chose to bat first on a batting beauty of a pitch. Openers Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia gave a flying start with 49 runs in 6.3 overs for the first wicket. Bhatia made 31 in 21 with 6 fours to her name. then India lost a few wickets in Mithali Raj for 5 and Deepti Sharma for 15.
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Then the ODI vice-captain joined hands with the T20I vice-captain and both Harmanpreet and Mandhana took the Windies bowlers to the cleaners. They added 184 runs for the 4th wicket.
Mandhana made 123 in 119 balls with 13 fours and 2 sixes, while Harmanpreet made 109 in 107 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes to her name. India finished at 317/8 in 50 overs thanks to their efforts, it was a refreshing change from their rusty performance against New Zealand.
The Cricket fraternity was all praises for Mandhana and Harmanpreet for their amazing knocks and here are some of the tweets they posted lauding the two India batters.
Check them out:
