“It was a chaseable score, the batting has to step up”: Mithali Raj blames the batting for defeat against New Zealand in ICC Women’s World Cup

Mithali Raj has blamed the batting for the loss against New Zealand in the league game of ICC Women’s World Cup.

After winning the first game against Pakistan, team India suffered a heavy loss against New Zealand in the ICC Women’s World Cup. New Zealand defeated India by 4-1 in the last ODI series, and they have continued their domination.

India opted to bowl first, and the bowlers did a fine job to restrict the Kiwis to a chasable total. New Zealand scored 260 runs, courtesy of Amelia Kerr and Amy Satterthwaite’s half-century. Pooja Vastrakar scalped four wickets, whereas Rajeshwari Gayakwad scalped a couple of them.

India started on a very slow note, and they got all-out on 198 runs. Apart from Harmanpreet Kaur, every Indian batter failed. Smriti Mandhana went on a duck, whereas Yastika Bhatia and Mithali Raj were quite slow in their approach. Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr scalped three wickets each for New Zealand.

Mithali Raj criticizes batters for the defeat against New Zealand

After the game, Indian captain Mithali Raj agreed that the batting needs to improve. She said that it was a chasable score, but the top-order of the side started on a very slow note. Raj insisted that one of the batters has to bat deep to chase the score.

“It was a chaseable score, provided the top order managed the run rate properly,” Raj said.

“We needed one of the batters to bat deep. There was a lot of extra bounce under lights, nothing unplayable but we could have done better.”

Mithali Raj appreciated the bowlers for restricting the Kiwis to a decent score. At one stage, 280 was on the cards, but the Indian bowlers did a great job in the death overs. She said that the bowlers bowled well in the last game too, but the batting is at the fault.

“The bowlers have done well today, they did well last game too. The batting has to step up,” Raj added.

Team India will now face West Indies in their next game on 12 March at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.