‘It wasn’t that tough to bat’ says Smriti after historic Test win

Indian women carved history at Mumbai in a scintillating display of power and brilliance as they ran roughshod over Australia in the one-off Test match. A sensational bowling display from Sneh Rana in both the innings followed by an iconic showdown from Smriti Mandhana in the first innings while brewing some resistance in the second with the surface slowing down significantly, allowed India to breach the gates of history as the visitors, steamrolling the Australians.

Talking in a post-match interview after the contest, RCB-W skipper Mandhana opened at length about the entire match-up and how the conditions kept on changing until the final day. From expecting a rank-turner to the smart application of oneself, Smriti encapsulated the entire process in a pretty riveting manner for the fans.

Smriti said, “It wasn't that tough. Before the match, we thought it was going to be a rank-turner on day three and four. But if you applied yourself and showed patience, batting wasn't that hard. Credit to all the batters.”

Shedding further light on the approach for the second inning where the hosts needed just 75 runs to carve history, Mandhana added, “I told Shafali that we'll just bat the way we batted in the first innings. Just watch the ball and play, nothing too fancy, nothing too defensive.”

Smriti concluded by saying, “Just react to the ball because we both bat the best when we just react to the ball. So that was the only message we had. She was unfortunate, but she started off beautifully with that cover drive.”