Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal fifties carry India to 330 against Australia

Visakhapatnam: India woke up from their batting slumber through classy fifties by Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal to post a strong 330 against Australia in their Women's World Cup match here on Sunday.

Asked to bat first, India were served well by openers Mandhana (80, 66 balls) and Pratika Rawal (75, 96b) on a pitch that had little assistance for the Aussie bowlers.

The genesis of India's batting charge was in the 155-run opening stand between Mandhana and Rawal in just 24.3 overs, also atoning for their previous individual and joint failures against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa in the ICC showpiece.

Elegantly aggressive is a paradox, but in Mandhana's case it is a truism.

The left-hander took her time till the seventh over, possibly assessing the pace of the pitch and the introduction of left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (3/75) to bring about a change in her and the team's tempo.

Mandhana welcomed Molineux, smashing 18 runs in her very first over that included a six and two fours, and India’s scoring rate seldom dipped below six from that point.

Rawal was more a sidekick to Mandhana, but on occasions she showed her flair, dispatching off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner for two fours in a row.

But even then brute force was not the hallmark of their innings, but silken smooth timing and precise placing shaped their partnership.

Mandhana brought up her fifty in 46 balls, and Rawal followed the suit a bit later off 69 balls, and they were also aided by a pitch that played a whole lot more smoothly than in the match against South Africa.

Mandhana Fastest to 5000

During the course of her innings, 29-year-old Mandhana also completed 5000 runs in WODIs, earning the distinction of being the fastest and youngest player to achieve the feat. She took 112 matches to get to the milestone mark.

Mandhana and Rawal also stitched together their sixth 100-run stand in 21 innings, now one shy of India’s record of seven between Purnima Raut Mithali Raj (34 innings).

However, Mandhana was dismissed against the run of play, giving a simple catch to Phoebe Litchfield in the deep off Molineux while trying to play a slog sweep.

Mandhana’s dismissal briefly allowed Australia to make a comeback, getting rid of Rawal, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Harleen Deol.

Those Indian batters were also guilty of playing rather casual shots to gift their wickets to the opposition, when they just had to bat a bit more sensibly.

India were suddenly at 240 for four in the 38th over, and on the verge of squandering the hitherto acquired momentum.

But Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues added 54 runs for the fifth wicket to push India closer to the 300-run mark, before Ghosh holed out in the deep off pacer Annabel Sutherland (5/40), the best bowler on view for the visitors in this match.

With spinners and pacers struggling alike under the lights, India’s focus was on acquiring as many runs as possible in the back 10, and finished with taking 90 runs in them but lost the remaining six wickets.