Women's T20: Half centurion Smriti Mandhana blames herself for India's loss

Smriti Mandhana en route her 41-ball 67. PIC/SURESH KARKERA

Despite scoring almost half the runs in her team's total, Indian women's vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, blamed herself for yesterday's six-wicket loss to Australia in the opening clash of the T20 tri-series at the Brabourne Stadium. Mandhana's 41-ball 67 saw India post 152-5. However, the Aussies chased down the total easily, with six wickets and 11 balls to spare.

Amid chants of 'India jeetega' from the few hundred vocal supporters here, Mandhana cleared the fence at will, with 11 fours and two sixes to give the hosts a rollicking start. She also notched up the fastest half-century by an Indian (off just 30 balls). Such was her confidence that every time she stepped out, she hit the ball to the fence. But on one occasion she mistimed it and holed out to debutant Sophie Molineux at mid-on. Her wicket sparked a mini collapse as Australia took two more wickets (Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored just one, and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who made 13) within the next six balls to snatch away the momentum. Anuja Patil's 21-ball 35 (6x4, 1x6) helped the hosts cross the 150-run barrier.

"It's easy to blame others for not performing, but it's tough for a new batsman to come in and score fluently, like a set batsman. It would've been a lot easier had I continued till the 20th over. So, I blame myself. If I'm set and middling the ball well, I should've stayed on just like Mithali does. We must learn from our seniors," said Mandhana. The Indian eves played well in patches, but some sloppy fielding did not help their cause. For Australia, Beth Mooney (45), Elyse Villani (39) and skipper Meg Lanning (35) were the top scorers, while India's senior pacer Jhulan Goswami took 3-30.

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