 "Renuka Singh, Smriti Mandhana help India thrash West Indies by 211 runs in 1st ODI")
Smriti Mandhana and Renuka Singh starred with bat and ball respectively as the India women’s cricket team thrashed West Indies by 211 runs to go 1-0 up in the first of three ODIs on Sunday. In-form opener Mandhana top-scored for the Women in Blue with a knock of 91, helping them post a daunting 314/9 after they were invited to bat by opposition captain Hayley Matthews. Renuka then ran through the West Indian batting lineup with a haul of 5/29, collecting her maiden ODI five-wicket haul as the visitors were bundled out for a paltry 103.
After winning the three-match T20I series 2-1, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team went 1-0 up in the ODI series as a result of their clinical all-round performance at the Kotambi Stadium on Sunday. The 211-run victory was also India’s second-biggest in ODIs behind their 249-run hammering of Ireland in Potchefstroom.
Mandhana leads the way
Opener Mandhana, who had scored a half-century in each of the three T20Is against the West Indies, struck 13 fours during her knock of 91 off 102 balls, narrowly missing out on her 10th century in the 50-over format. Harleen Deol (44 off 50 balls) and Pratika Rawal (40 off 69 balls) too chipped in with handy contributions with the latter adding 110 for the first wicket with Mandhana on international debut.
Deol would later help set the platform for a 300-plus total for the hosts by stitching back-to-back fifty-plus partnerships with Mandhana, who was denied a ton after getting trapped LBW by left-arm spinner Zaida James, and Harmanpreet. The Indian skipper struck an attacking 34 off 23 balls, collecting three fours and a six during her stay at the crease.
Meanwhile...
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 22, 2024
Smriti Mandhana in her last 5 innings in international cricket (latest first) 🙌 🙌
5⃣0⃣ up & going strong
7⃣7⃣
6⃣2⃣
5⃣4⃣
1⃣0⃣5⃣
Live ▶️ https://t.co/OtQoFnoAZu#TeamIndia | #INDvWI | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/jJ5ZNHvBT5
Impact Shorts
More ShortsLater in the innings, the trio of Richa Ghosh (26 off 13 balls), Jemimah Rodrigues (31 off 19 balls) and Deepti Sharma (14 not out off 12 balls) would help India race past 300 in the death overs.
For Mandhana, it was her fifth consecutive fifty-plus score across formats. The 28-year-old had earlier struck 105 in the third and final ODI against Australia in Perth that went in vain, before registering scores of 54, 62 and 77 in the three T20Is against the West Indians at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium. She finished the year with 1,602 runs across international formats, the most by a batter in a calendar year in women’s international cricket.
James was the pick of the West Indian bowlers with figures of 5/45 while Matthews finished with figures of 2/61 after dismissing Rawal and Ghosh. Senior all-rounder Deandra Dottin (1/63) was the only other West Indian bowler to collect a wicket.
Renuka decimates WI
West Indies were faced with the Herculean task of chasing down a target in excess of 300 – which had been achieved for the first and only time by Sri Lanka against South Africa in April this year – and would have had to register the highest successful chase of all time if they were to go 1-0 up.
The visitors, however, were in trouble from the very outset of their chase as opener Qiana Joseph was run-out for a platinum duck off the first ball of the innings. Renuka would then get rid of(*Matthews and Dottin in successive overs while pace colleague Titas Sadhu castled Rashada Williams for 3.
Renuka, who plays under Mandhana’s leadership at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), would strike in back-to-back overs for the second time shortly after the start of the second powerplay.
The 28-year-old pacer got rid of Aaliyah Alleyne and Shabika Gajnabi and reduce the West Indians to 34/6, at which point the result was almost certain and it was only a matter of crossing 100 and delaying the inevitable for the visitors.
𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗜𝘁 𝗢𝗻 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗽!
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 22, 2024
𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏. 𝘼. 𝘾𝘼𝙏𝘾𝙃! 😯
Absolute screamer! 👌 👌
Harmanpreet Kaur - Take A Bow 🙌 🙌
Live ▶️ https://t.co/OtQoFnoAZu#TeamIndia | #INDvWI | @ImHarmanpreet | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/Fkuyj75Ok0
Renuka would then complete her maiden five-for in the format, and only her second in international cricket, by dismissing wicketkeeper-batter Shemaine Campbelle, who was one of only two West Indian batters to cross 20 on Sunday.
Renuka had collected her first four wickets during a marathon eight-over spell that got the innings underway and also included a maiden. She would then collect her fifth first ball into her second spell after being brought back into the attack in the 21st over, and would eventually sign off with outstanding figures of 10-1-29-5.
Spinners Priya Mishra (2/22) and Deepti Sharma (1/19) helped clean up the remainder of the batting order while Afy Fletcher ensured the visitors managed to cross the century mark at the very least with an unbeaten 24 off 22 balls.
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