Smriti Mandhana, who was the Player of the Match in the first ODI of the 3-match series against England, has said that the Indian women's team trying to give a fitting farewell to pace bowling legend Jhulan Goswami.
Jhulan is set to retire from international cricket at the end of this ODI series against England. The 39-year-old pacer is the highest wicket-taker in women's ODI cricket.
“I want to say that this series is for Jhulu di (Jhulan Goswami), her bowling was amazing. All our efforts in this series will be for Jhulu di,” Mandhana said after the match.
Mandhana scored 91 on Sunday as she and Harmanpreet Kaur's 74* helped India chase down 227 runs against England and win the match by 7 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Talking about her match-winning innings, Mandhana said: “I would’ve enjoyed it better with a not-out at the end. Thanks to the supporters for coming out, happy to put out a show for them. (On adapting to formats) ODIs are natural for me, In T20s I have to put effort to take care of the strike rate. In ODIs, I can just react.
But I’m happy to lay the platform. (thoughts on the pitch) I’m happy that Harman won the toss. I saw the pitch in the first innings and told myself to cut down on the back-foot play. But didn’t hold back too much.”
"All of us showed the character which we discussed in team meetings. It was a crucial toss, the partnership between Jhulan and Meghna was great. Credit to all the bowlers as they chipped through," she added.
The second ODI will be played on September 21 at Canterbury, followed by the third and final game on September 24 at Lord’s.
(PTI inputs)
