India vs South Africa women | Smriti Mandhana wants to learn more from Mithali Raj

India vs South Africa women | Smriti Mandhana wants to learn more from Mithali Raj

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Smriti Mandhana has asserted that she wants to learn as many as she can from her opening partner Mithali Raj during the remaining T20Is against South Africa. Mandhana has also added that it's easy to score runs when batting with Raj, as the opposition would focus only on getting the latter out.

Mithali Raj, along with Smriti Mandhana, guided India home in the second T20I with a strong 106-run stand and once Mandhana got out, the former captain went onto score a match-winning 76* which helped India chase down a target of 141 set by the Proteas Women in 19.1 overs. Earlier, she had helped India record their second highest T20 chase of 165 runs against the SA Women. Her brilliance and calmness in the first two T20Is was praised by her teammate Smriti Mandhana who said that she wants to learn a lot from the never ageing partner.

"I enjoy a lot batting with Mithali di. Batting with her, everyone will concentrate on her so I can get my runs easily. She gives her inputs while batting and they're really important. She will just calm you down, that 'runs have come, don't go for that'. Those conversations are really important. And coming from someone like Mithali di, you tend to respond to that and play accordingly. Playing with her has been a very good learning experience for me, and I would like to learn a lot more from her," Mandhana said, reported Cricbuzz.

"Whatever chance we got we utilized it. It was really important for both of us to continue .... it would've been much better if I had carried my bat through but it was really important for us both to finish off the game because for a new batter to come in and score at a rate of 6.50 would've been really hard. Credit to Mithali di the way she batted and finished off the game, something to learn from. Looking forward to playing again with her," Mandhana said in a post-match chat.

As India enjoy a 2-0 lead in the 5-match T20 series, the dressing room atmosphere of South Africa Women’s team seem to be upbeat. The Proteas now face an uphill task against this mighty Indian women’s team as they will have to win all the remaining three matches to win the series. South Africa head coach Hilton Moreeng has blamed his team’s poor bowling and fielding efforts for the loss in the second T20i as his side could not defend a total of 140 in the 20 overs.

"We had too many soft dismissals in the first 7-8 overs. That put us on the backfoot a bit. I think we did well to get to 140, which on this wicket was competitive. They only got it in the last over. Out fielding didn't back it up on the field today. I think we missed a trick today. If you look at the way we batted, 140 in women's game is a good score. We didn't back it up with the fielding. We got 140 which we should've defended. End of the day, it is about an application. Bowlers tried everything they could, created chances but they were not taken.”

“They created opportunities and took their chances. Today we'll look at it as a game of missed chances. It is something that we can learn from them." 

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