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Smriti Mandhana hands Player of the Match award to bowlers

Dixit Bhargav
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Smriti Mandhana hands Player of the Match

Smriti Mandhana hands Player of the Match: The Indian opening batswoman was generous enough to give away her award to the bowlers.

During the second ODI of the ongoing India Women’s tour of New Zealand at Mount Maunganui, India defeated New Zealand by 8 wickets to go 2-0 up in the series. Having won the first ODI by 9 wickets, India continued to dominate the hosts with their comprehensive performance.

India captain Mithali Raj’s decision to put New Zealand in to bat yielded fruits as the Indian bowlers bundled out New Zealand for 161 in 44.2 overs. New Zealand captain Amy Satterthwaite, who came in to bat at No. 4, remained her team’s top-scorer scoring 71 (87) with the help of nine fours.

With bowling figures of 8.2-2-23-3, veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami was the pick of the Indian bowlers. Much like the men’s team, India deceived the opposition on the back of stellar performances from their bowlers. Apart from Goswami, left-arm bowler Ekta Bisht, leg-spinner Poonam Yadav and off-spinner Deepti Sharma chipped in with a couple of wickets each.

The Indian women chased the 162-run target with no issue at all. India did lose Jeminah Rodrigues (0) and Sharma (8) cheaply, but it was a 151-run partnership for the third wicket between Smriti Mandhana and Raj which saw India seal the chase in the 36th over.

Mandhana, who had scored her fourth ODI century in the first ODI, once against top-scored for India. While she scored 90* (83) with the help of 13 fours and a six, Raj ended up scoring 63* (118) with the help of four fours and two sixes.

Despite the Indian players’ excellent performance, the highlight of the match happened during the presentation ceremony when Mandhana decided to hand her ‘Player of the Match’ award to the bowlers for she believed that they deserved it for bowling out the opposition cheaply.

“I will be giving this award to all the bowlers in the team. They deserve it for bowling New Zealand Women out for 161 on such a track,” Mandhawan was quoted as saying during the presentation ceremony.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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