- By Gurmeet Batra
- Mon, 20 Oct 2025 11:15 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND-W vs ENG-W, Women's World Cup: India's vice-captain Smriti Mandhana shouldered the blame for her team's narrow defeat against England in the ongoing ICC Women's World Cup, pinpointing her own dismissal as the impetus for the batting collapse in the crucial run chase.
India's chase of 289 got off to a solid start, courtesy of Smriti Mandhana's impressive batting. The opener formed two important partnerships, including a 125-run stand with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and a 67-run strong batting partnership with Deepti Sharma, leaving India in a strong spot.
The momentum shifted dramatically after Mandhana mistimed a lofted shot to long-off wicket, and this opened the floodgates, as Richa Ghosh's misfire and Deepti's slog-sweep miscue handed England crucial breaks, leaving India short of the target.
"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," Mandhana said at the post-match press conference on Sunday.
"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 with me," she added.
The left-handed opener acknowledged that emotions clouded her decision, causing her to stray from her plan of dodging lofty shots.
"I thought I could take her on. I was trying to aim more at 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," the opener 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 far ahead," the left-handed batter said.
However, Mandhana also supported the batting unit, saying finishing is always a challenging task.
"If you see England's innings, they did not finish well either. Going in and trying to get seven runs per over is not an easy thing. So, I wouldn't say that they haven't... and I just feel that in the first two or three matches we definitely finished well," Mandhana said.
"Against South Africa, we had a last 10 overs, we got almost 90 plus runs so they have pretty much done a lot of good things. It's all about how we experienced players can put our hands up in those sorts of situations and be there and guide the younger group," she added.