India-W run riot to demolish Ireland and pocket ODI series win with a game to spare
It was a joyride for Team India as they bagged the ongoing ODI series win against Ireland women with a rampant display of all-round brilliance in the second match. Winning the toss, India opted to bat first and the batters came out all guns blazing. A stunning opening partnership between Smriti Mandhana (73) and Pratika Rawal (67) set the tone for the upcoming crescendo.
Despite losing two quick wickets, India restabilized their domination through the incoming pair of Harleen Deol and Jemimah Rodrigues. Deol blasted a 84-ball-89, clobbering 12 fours while Rodrigues hammered a 91-ball-century before Arlene Kelly removed the pair.
By the time the two fell, India already had their feet on the accelerator and were shifting gears at will as the visitors could only be the hapless receivers of some serious assault from the other end. India totted up 370/5 from their allotment of 50 overs. Orla Prendergast and Arlene Kelly were the only Irish bowlers who could garner four wickets between them but conceded plenty.
Hoping to get off to a decent overture, Ireland did get the early moves right. Sarah Forbes (38) led the charge while captain Gaby Lewis (12) took her time to get the wheels in place. Sayali Satghare broke the opening partnership, removing Lewis, and that brought Coulter Reilly, the star of the Ireland batting effort, to the crease.
Reilly (80) headlined the batting for the visitors while she had support from Laura Delany (37) and Leah Paul (27*). Despite the cameos grabbing some attention, it was too little in the end. Shooting down a mammoth total of 371, Ireland could only rack up 254/7 at the end of their 50 overs.
Deepti Sharma continued her dream run with figures of 10-0-37-3 while Priya Mishra chimed in with a couple of wickets too. Jemimah Rodrigues won the Player of the Match award for her scintillating century while India completed another series win in their backyard.
