India opener Smriti Mandhana took the blame on herself for the late collapse that saw her side fall short of victory in their crucial clash against England at the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 in Indore on Sunday.
Hosts India looked to be cruising to victory with Mandhana at the crease in pursuit of England’s total of 288/8 and with seven wickets still in hand and six runs per over required, but the left-hander, who scored 88 off 94, holed out to Alice Capsey in the deep as the momentum turned away from her side.
There was still hope heading into the final over with 14 runs required and Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana at the crease, but Linsey Smith held her nerve with the ball to ensure England became the third side to book their place in the semi-finals and leave India with plenty of work to do if they are to reach the knockout stages.
“I mean it collapsed, everyone saw that. I think everyone’s shot selections at that time – we could have done better with our shot selections,” a despondent Mandhana said in the post-match presentation.
“Especially since it started from me, so I will take it on myself that the shot selection should have been better. We just needed six (runs) per over and maybe we should have taken the game deeper. So yeah I mean I’ll take it from myself because the collapse started from me,” she added.
India In A Must Win Situation For Semi-Final Spot
India, who have lost their last three matches, now need to win both of their remaining games to ensure their place in the semi-finals of the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 and their next clash at the tournament against New Zealand on Thursday becomes a pivotal contest for both sides.
The 29-year-old Mandhana knows the importance of the match against the White Ferns and is backing her teammates to bounce back quickly.
“In cricket, nothing comes easy. For sure, the next match would be the virtual quarter-final in terms of getting into the top four and you don’t play cricket to have easy days,” the Indian vice-captain said.
“We’ll all take this in our strides. We all know where we could have gotten done better, where we went wrong.
We all know all of those things and yeah, as I said, if you’re playing a sport, you’re meant to have good days and bad days. It’s about how you take those bad days and we move on and see how we can get the best in terms of against New Zealand, ” she added.
India’s Squad For Women’s ODI World Cup 2025: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud. Reserves: Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Minnu Mani, Sayali Satghare
