India asserted dominance over Ireland with a massive 116-run victory in the second women’s ODI at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Sunday. The hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Jemimah Rodrigues’ (102) maiden international century, alongside half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana (73), Pratika Rawal (67) and Harleen Deol (89) powered India to 370/5, their highest-ever total in the format.
Openers Smriti and Pratika gave India a blistering start with the former scoring at an impressive strike rate of 135.18. The duo stitched up a 150-run partnership before the skipper was dismissed in the 19th over. A short ball outside off saw Smriti try and clear the mid-wicket fielder but ended up being caught by Georgina Dempsey off Orla Prendergast’s bowling.
Pratika soon followed back to the dugout after being caught LBW on the first ball of the very next over by Georgina Dempsey.
With two new batters at the crease Ireland were hoping to trigger a collapse but Harleen and Jemimah stood resilient and went on to stitch a 183-run partnership for the third wicket. The latter ramped things up after reaching her half-century as she scored the next 50 runs in just 28 balls. Harleen fell just 11 runs short of her second ODI century in the 48th over while Jemimah was bowled out in the last over of the innings by Arlene Kelly.
For visitors, Arlene Kelly and Orla Prendergast shared two wickets each but leaked over eight runs per over.
Chasing a daunting 371, Ireland’s all-time ODI top scorer Gaby Lewis (12) was the first to be dismissed by Sayali Satghare in the eighth over. An attempted drive saw her get a faint edge, which was confirmed by the DRS. Sarah Forbes (38) and Christina Coulter Reilly (80) put up a 55-run partnership before the former was bowled by spinner Deepti Sharma in the 21st over. Orla Prendergast (3) did not spend too much time at the crease and was caught by Sayali off Priya Mishra’s bowling.
Laura Delany (37) and Christina’s 73-run partnership attempted to rescue the game for the visitors but their attempts were foiled by Titas Sadhu as she castled the latter’s stumps. Wickets fell at regular intervals from thereon as Ireland managed to creep to 254/7 at the end of the 50 overs.
For India, Deepti Sharma was the standout bowler as she returned with the figures of 3-37 in her 10 overs. Jemimah was named Player of the Match for her outstanding century knock.
“I am relieved. I have scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket. The roles usually have been different in the side. I have played more T20 cricket. I tried to play how I used to play in the domestic circuit,” Jemimah said after the match.
“I thought I haven’t played enough in this format. It took me a while. I usually bat at 5. You keep being patient. You keep hitting the gaps. We had a chat we need to keep batting till the 40th. When I was taking my time, she took the charge. We have played a lot of cricket together if not batting together but that helped,” she added.
The third ODI between the two teams will be played on January 15 with visitors eyeing a consolation win in the series finale.
Brief scores: India 370/5 in 50 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 102, Harleen Doel 89; Orla Prendergast 75-2) defeat Ireland 254/7 in 50 overs (Christina Coulter Reilly 80, Sarah Forbes 38; Deepti Sharma 37-3) by 116 runs.
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