Mumbai : Indian women’s cricket team ODI skipper Mithali Raj continued to stress on the middle order woes being faced by the team and hoped for some consistency from players in that position.
Mithali said that the middle order players are talented and have even given good performances but lack consistency.
We need to get our middle order sorted. We have talent but it is not consistent. They have been performing but have not been consistent. They need to perform at every opportunity given to play for India, Mithali said in a post-match press conference.
The right-hand batswoman also spoke about Punam Raut being given the number three spot in the team. She asserted that since Raut is a top-order player, it was easier for her to settle in that position instead of the middle order.
Moreover, they did not want to break the pair of Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues at the top, Mithali continued. India defeated England 2-1 in their ODI series but Mithali expressed disappointed as they could not complete a whitewash. She, however, said that the players have understood the point and are ready to work on the same in future matches.
But this [issue] we did address and the girls do understand. We will definitely work on it, so that in the coming series, if we are in a similar position, we would like to make it 3-0, she said.
The captain also defended her decision to drop spinner Ekta Bisht for Rajeshwari Gayakwad saying that later deserved a chance to prove her abilities.
We only made one change in the team, getting Rajeshwari in place of Ekta Bist. We felt that Rajashwari did not get a game even in New Zealand, Mithali said.
Unfortunately this is a three ODI series so we can really try to give opportunity to too many youngsters. But she is a seasoned player and it is just unfortunate that she didn’t get a game in the New Zealand series, so we thought she needs to get a game here, she added.
Expressing her views on the Decision Review System (DRS) Mithali said that as a skipper its existence or non-existence does not really matter but she would love to have it in place.
We would love to have DRS because when it comes to big events like the ICC, where we have DRS, we need to get a little more experience for the girls to understand the concept of DRS – how and when to take it. We had it in New Zealand, suddenly we don’t have it at home, she said.
If it is irregular, it gets difficult for the players to accept a concept like that. It has its own effects. It is good in a way and it is bad also. Some dismissals go your way, but at crucial stages, some dismissals don’t go your way. It’s part of the game, she concluded.