Indian bowlers dominating Australian batters at home huge positive, says Mandhana

Hobart, Oct 21 (PTI): The series was lost but star opener Smriti Mandhana feels the Indian women’s cricket team gained quite a lot from its recent tour of Australia, the biggest positive being the visiting bowlers’ lion-hearted performance in the multi-format rubber.
India lost the series 5-11 after going down in the white-ball leg and drawing the lone Test.
“We had a lot of positives. Everyone did well, especially the bowling. It was one department where we were way better than the Aussies which is a huge thing for the Indian team,” Mandhana said during a Clubhouse session on 10 years of Red Bull Campus Cricket during which its first ever women’s edition was announced.
“To come to Australia and outplay their bowlers and outplay their pacers was so amazing to watch, the way Jhulan di (Goswami) bowled, Pooja (Vastrakar) bowled and Renuka (Singh) and Shikha di (Pandey) bowled in the T20 format…”
“It was amazing to watch our bowlers dominating the Australian batters, that was the biggest positive.” Mandhana added. The stylish southpaw, who had one of her best away series where she scored 86 in an ODI followed by a majestic 127, her first ton in Tests, and then a 52 in the final women’s T20I, added that had rain not played spoilsport, the series could have gone India’s way.
“If results would have gone differently it would have been even more better for India. “Rain played spoiltsport in the Test match and the first T20 which we were in a very good position to win.
“Not blaming the rain but things would have maybe been different had the rain not happened but there were so many positives from the series,” said Mandhana, who is currently playing for Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash here.
The 25-year-old said the Indian team is working on improving its batting depth and the recent performances by the lower middle order is testament to the efforts being put in.
“That’s a conscious effort to have good batting depth specially in T20 and ODI format because in white-ball cricket we might lose a few wickets and it shouldn’t always be top heavy. We should have a lot of contributors.
“Our lower middle order is contributing a lot and have done amazingly in the recent series. Jhulan di finished the match for us in the third ODI, it showed we are all working very hard on batting and getting our number 7,8 9 to bat,” she added.