England women vs India women: All our efforts in ODI series is for Jhulan Goswami, says Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana dedicated her Player of the Match award from the first ODI between India and England to Jhulan Goswami and added that all the efforts by the team in the ongoing ODI series are for the veteran pacer. Goswami is set to retire from international cricketer at the end of the ODI series, according to a report. “I want to say that this series is for Jhulu di (Jhulan Goswami), her bowling was amazing. All our efforts in this series will be for Jhulu di,” Mandhana said after the match. Mandhana scored 91 on Sunday as India defeated England by seven wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Batting first, England were restricted to 227/7 with Goswami returning with match figures of 1/20 from 10 overs. India completed the chase in 44.2 overs with Mandhana leading from the front. Yastika Bhatia made 50 while captain Harmanpreet scored 74 not out. Talking about her match-winning innings, Mandhana said: “I would’ve enjoyed it better with a not-out at the end. Thanks to the supporters for coming out, happy to put out a show for them. (On adapting to formats) ODIs are natural for me, T20s I have to put effort to take care of the strike rate. In ODIs I can just react. But I’m happy to lay the platform. (thoughts on the pitch) I’m happy that Harman won the toss. I saw the pitch in the first innings and told myself to cut down on the back-foot play. But didn’t hold back too much.”

The elegance and class of Smriti Mandhana - it's a treat to watch her bat. pic.twitter.com/eLQB7KmtpU

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 19, 2022

Skipper Harmanpreet praised her side for making a comeback after the T20I series loss. “We are very happy with the support we have got, very motivating. Very important win, we showed the character we were talking about in the T20Is. It was a crucial toss to win, and then there was a great bowling partnership between Meghna and Jhulan. I think everyone who came on gave us breakthroughs. I think there was a great partnership between Yashtika and Smriti, happy with the way I batted as well. Very important to get amongst the runs,” she said. England stand-in captain Amy Jones attributed the loss to England’s poor batting. “Disappointing, we didn’t do enough with the bat. But I think Alex batted brilliantly to give us a chance, but we needed some more wickets in the powerplay. We thought it was a tricky wicket, but I think India bowled well and then losing regular wickets cost us. Shafali’s wicket early was very important, but we needed a couple more in the powerplay. I think Harman and Smriti batted very well,” Jones said. The second ODI will be played on September 21 at Canterbury, followed by the third and final game on September 24 at Lord’s. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.