After qualifying for the semifinals, the vice-captain of team India, Smriti Mandhana, described the win as a “big relief”. The team started as one of the favourites but faced three successive defeats, which made this victory even more important.
India became the last team to qualify for the semi-finals along with South Africa, Australia, and England. The team defeated New Zealand via the DLS method during a rain-affected game. During the post-match presentation, Mandhana spoke about the tension in the past three matches due to the pressure of qualifying. She also stated how the team played well but was not able to win the past matches, which made the victory a relief.
Mandhana, a left-handed batter, scored her fifth century this year with 109 runs, while her partner and opening batter Pratika Rawal scored 122. The duo together scored a massive 212 runs out of the total 340/3 in 49 overs. This is the highest score by the Indian team in the current World Cup; the last one was 330, which they scored against Argentina in Visakhapatnam.
Mandhana was named the player of the match, and while receiving the honours, she mentioned that her teammate Pratika deserved the award as much as she did. Answering another question on how her coordination with Pratika worked well, she said that they have found no answer to the question that has been thrown at them for a consistent eight months.
She candidly added that “we are simple people” and that they focus on their job and avoid talking during the matches.
