 "'It started from me': Smriti Mandhana takes the blame for India’s heartbreaking loss to England")
India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana admitted she should be blamed for her team’s narrow four-run loss to England in the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup on Sunday. The defeat was India’s third in a row in the tournament, leaving their semifinal hopes in serious jeopardy.
Chasing 289, India looked well on track thanks to Mandhana’s brilliant 88, as she built crucial partnerships of 125 with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and 67 with Deepti Sharma. But her mistimed shot to long-off triggered a collapse, followed by the dismissals of Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma, as India fell short of their target.
Mandhana blames herself
Speaking after the match, Mandhana said that she was partly to blame for the defeat, citing her poor shot selection as the reason for the subsequent batting collapse. “I think everyone’s shot selections at that time - we could have done better with our shot selections. Especially, it started from me, so I will take it on me, that the shot selection should have been better,” she said.
“We just needed six (runs) per over. Maybe we should have taken the game deeper. I’ll take it on myself because the collapse started from me. I thought I could take her on. I was trying to aim more over covers. I mistimed that shot. Maybe the shot wasn’t needed at that time. I just needed to be more patient because, throughout the innings, I was trying to tell myself to be patient and not to play aerial shots,” she added.
“Maybe the emotions took over for that one, which never helps in cricket. But, walking back, I was pretty confident that we’ll be able to get the win, but it’s cricket, you can’t ever think too ahead.” The collapse was similar to what India suffered in their previous game against Australia. In that game, India were cruising comfortably to a huge total but witnessed a quick fall of wickets towards the backend of their innings.
India now face do-or-die matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh to keep their semifinal hopes alive. They must win both their matches to finish with 8 points and qualify for the knockouts. If India lose even one game, their qualification hopes will depend on other results and net run-rate.
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