England vs India women: Wanted to be there and win the game for India, says captain Mithali Raj

After anchoring India’s chase with a heroic batting performance, India captain Mithali Raj on Saturday said she wanted to be in the midst of action to not only finish the game but also to guide her younger teammates and she is trying to add “new dimensions” to her batting for one last hurrah at next year’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand.

Mithali on Saturday became the highest run-getter in women’s cricket across all formats while guiding India to a consolation four-wicket win over England in the third and final ODI here. She made an unbeaten 75 off 86 balls to take the visitors home. The game became a bit tense in the end but Mithali held her nerves.

“I never gave up in the middle. It’s being in the middle, because you can’t win the match sitting out in the dugout. I wanted to win the game for the team,” Mithali said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“I am still very passionate to go out there, be there in the middle and win games for India. I know there is still room for improvements in terms of my batting and that is something I am working on… There are certain dimensions I would like to add to my batting…” she said at the virtual post-match press conference.

“I have enjoyed chasing. I wanted to be there and win the game for the team, I picked the bowlers to attack and along the way guided Sneh Rana. It is always good to have an all-rounder in the side, she (Sneh) has been phenomenonal for us throughout the series.”

England skipper Heather Knight said they were “little disappointed” about the end result but it was a “very good game”.

“We were a few runs on short on the slow wicket. It was tricky to get boundaries and we should have got more singles. We should be punching out 240-250 every single time,” she said.

“We lost key wickets at important times, we needed to keep wickets and go big in the last five overs. We tried to look at different people at different roles today as the series was over, but I trusted (Katherine) Brunt and (Sophie) Ecclestone to get the game done today,” she added.

Ecclestone, who was adjudged the Player of the Series, said the team is determined to do well in the upcoming T20s.

“We have to come back strongly in the T20s. It is quite nice to have the trust of the captain. She (Mithali) batted well today and had the right tempo to her innings. It is nice to have Glenny in the side, we are off the same age and have the same music taste,” she said.