Despite losing the finals by just 9 runs to hosts England at Lords yesterday, the Indian women’s performed exceedingly well in the entire tournament.
There were some great performances from all the Indian players who played their part in helping India to reach the finals and almost pulled it off.
Here we look at the positives for India to take away from Women’s World Cup 2017:-
- Punam Raut brilliant batting at the top
Playing her first World Cup, Punam Raut was brilliant with her batting giving the team a solid start. In the opening match against hosts England, she and Smriti Mandhana put on 144 runs for the first wicket. When the team was struggling, Raut played with positive attitude. While opening, Raut scored 381 runs from 9 matches at an average of 42.33. She scored 2 half centuries and 1 century. In the finals too, Mandhana was dismissed for 0 but Raut steadied the innings scoring 86 runs but could not help the team to cross the line.
- Mithali Raj brilliant performance with the bat
The captain of the Indian team, Mithali Raj who was playing her last World Cup showed her class with the bat. During the tournament, she became the first women to score 6000 runs in ODI cricket. It was a brilliant performance by Raj who was playing her 5th World Cup. In the 9 matches she played, Raj scored 409 runs with an average of 45.44. In the tournament, the captain scored 3 half centuries and 1 half century. During the finals at Lords, Raj could not contribute too much. It was an excellent performance by Raj who showed her ability with the bat.
- Harmanpreet Kaur hard hitting abilities
Harmanpreet Kaur the hard hitting batter from Mogra, had a great World Cup. In the first few matches, she could not contribute much. In the 8 innings he played in this tournament, Kaur scored a total of 359 runs with 2, not out innings. During semi-finals against defending Champions Australia, she scored 171* which is the fifth highest individual scorer in women’s ODI cricket. In yesterday’s finals too, Kaur put up a partnership with Raut and also scored a fifty. She could not help Indian women team to create history.
- Emergence of Deepti Sharma as an all-rounder
The 19 years old all-rounder Deepti Sharma had a decent Women’s World Cup with the bat and ball. She bowled with great control not allowing the opposition batters to play with freedom. It was a good performance by Sharma who took 12 wickets in 9 matches. With the bat, she scored a total of 216 runs with the best score of 78. With 11 runs required, Sharma could not handle the pressure of the big finals and lost the match by 9 runs.
- Performance of Indian spinners
The Indian spinners bowled brilliantly in the tournament. They played 5 matches in County Ground, Derby and the best figures came from Ekta Bisht, Gayakwad taking 5 wickets each against Pakistan and New Zealand. Poonam Yadav also performed well taking 11 wickets, Ekta Bisht taking 9 wickets in 6 matches, Deepti Sharma taking 12 wickets in 9 matches, Gayakwad 7 wickets in 3 matches. In the middle overs, the spinners put breaks on the run scoring and also took wickets at regular intervals which stopped them from scoring.
- Great performance in the entire tournament
The Indian women’s team came in England after playing qualifying tournament this year. In the first match, India defeated strong England, after that they won three back to back matches. They lost 2 matches against Australia and South Africa. In the virtual quarter finals, Raj, Kaur, and Krishnamurthy played great innings which helped India to qualify for the semi-finals. Kaur played a blinder of innings in the semi-finals scoring 171*. In the finals too, the Indian team dominated 95 overs, but losing 7 wickets in 27 balls was the reason for India’s heartbreaking loss. Every player contributed to the team’s success. The bowlers also did a great job in restricting the opposition batters from scoring runs easily.