'Cometh the hour, cometh the Kaur', was one of the many messages posted in social media after Indian women romped to a 155-run win against the West Indies in Hamilton on Saturday.
India, fifth in the standings before the clash against giant-killers West Indies, are now on top of the ICC Women's World Cup 2022 table with their second win in three matches. The margin of win also gives India the best net run-rate (1.333).
Smriti Mandhana (123) and Harmanpreet Kaur (109) were the architects of the win and their 184-run partnership saw India set the West Indies an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup record chase of 318.
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This win in Hamilton will also repose the faith in Mithali Raj's team to clinch the World Cup they missed by nine runs in 2017.
If there was a day for the senior players in the Indian women's cricket team to stand and deliver, it was on Saturday. After India lost to New Zealand in their second match, the morale was low.
“I want seniors to be putting their hands up, like Mithali (Raj), Smriti (Mandhana), Jhulan (Goswami), and win us the games single-handedly,” said Indian women’s cricket team head coach Ramesh Powar after the 62-run loss to New Zealand at Seddon Park on March 12.
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Lots of questions were raised on the batting approach of the Indian girls and they bounced back beautifully against West Indies, who had beaten defending champions England.
During the victory on Saturday, Jhulan Goswami surpassed Australian Lyn Fullston to become the highest wicket-taker in ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup history with 40 scalps.
Apart from this, the most pleasing thing on Saturday was the fact that India’s two batting mainstays – Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur – scored sensational centuries to take the team out from a precarious state of 78/3 in the game.
While Smriti Mandhana had scored an international century last year in October against Australia, a ton at the highest level for Harmanpreet Kaur came after a long wait of over three years.
Heading into the World Cup, the form of the India vice-captain was a huge concern, but Saturday witnessed the vintage Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit boundaries all around the park for fun. Her 109-run knock was laced with 10 fours and 2 sixes.
"From the outset, I feel when her back is towards the wall, that's when she comes the best out and that's something which I've seen," Smriti said after sharing her Player of the Match award with Harmanpreet.
"Her work ethic is really up there in the whole team. She keeps going even if she does not get the results. World Cups are the place where she comes good."
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"She is a crucial part of our middle order. Happy she's come back well. She has been batting well in the practice. We were always confident that she would score runs. Happy that she scored back-to-back fifties. It will give her good confidence going forward," added Mandhana, who scored 123 off 119 balls on Saturday.
Not to forget, Yastika Bhatia’s 31 that came off just 21 balls while opening the batting for India. The brisk knock not only gave India a dominating start but also made sure Mandhana didn’t need to hurry and got her time to settle down at the crease.
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By the time Yastika lost her wicket, India were already off to a flyer, scoring 49 runs in 6.3 overs. Even batters like Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma, who failed to score big runs in the game, made sure they didn’t lack any intent to score.
"We spoke about it a lot in the dressing room after the New Zealand defeat. Yastika had set up the momentum (with her 21-ball 31). We just had to keep it going and could not afford to play the fancy shots," said Smriti Mandhana.
Going forward, this is the kind of start that India would be needing with the bat to beat teams like Australia and South Africa, who are yet to lose a game in the tournament.
