Indian eves eager to bounce back

Indian eves had every reason to feel confident after their comfortable win over South Africa in the one-off Test at Mysuru last week. But their hopes of another easy outing were destroyed at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Monday during the first one-dayer.

Indian batswomen succumbed to the pace of Marizanne Kapp (4/21) and spin of Dane van Niekerk (4/9) while getting bowled out for a paltry 114. The Indian bowlers, of course, came up with a gritty effort to stretch the South Africans before the visitors carved a tight two-wicket win. However, it cannot mask India’s batting fragility and they need to address that in the second one-dayer to be played at the Chinnaswamy on Thursday.

The pitch had a green tinge on it, but, by no means, it hid any demons in it as proved by Chloe Tryon while hammering a match-winning even 50. Tryon trusted her instincts and remained aggressive throughout her stay, and it fetched her good results. While, the Indians need not copy Tryon’s outright aggression, they would be benefitted to induce some positivity and a touch of caution. Many of the Indian top-order batswomen played rather rash shots to gift their wickets away, creating unnecessary pressure on the middle and lower order.

Mithali Raj, the Indian skipper, admitted as much. “It was a disappointing performace from us, especially from the batters. We need to do better than that if we want to beat a top side like South Africa. We saw that our bowlers can put up a fight, now it’s time for the batswomen to put on a good total on the board. Hopefully, we can do that in the next match,” said Mithali.

Tryon hoped that South Africa could build on the momentum. “We needed this win after our disappointing effort in the Test match. Now, hopefully, we can build on this, and create some momentum for us,” said Tryon.