'Credit to Harman, Pratika and Deepti': Smriti Mandhana reacts as India seal ODI series against Zimbabwe

India captain Smriti Mandhana credited Harmanpreet Kaur, Pratika Rawal and Deepti Sharma for rescuing the side from 19/2 and setting up a 121-run win over Zimbabwe in the second women’s ODI here on Sunday, which handed India an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

After Smriti and Shafali Verma fell inside the first three overs at the BCA Stadium, Harmanpreet and Pratika (61) added 124 runs for the third wicket before Harmanpreet (126) and Deepti (106 not out) put on a record 153-run stand for the fifth wicket to lift India to 328/6.

"Today’s biggest positive, from 19/2, to get 300-plus - credit to Harman, Pratika, and Deepti the way they batted. Was brilliant to watch," Smriti said in the post-match presentation.

The India skipper reserved special praise for Deepti, who struck her second ODI hundred, and felt the all-rounder’s batting position often limited her opportunities to play long innings. "She (Deepti) has been batting brilliantly. Even in the ODI World Cup, she had a lot of match-winning knocks for us. Unfortunately, her number is such that she doesn’t get long overs, but really happy the way she went about it today and got her hundred."

Smriti, who got her first ODI series win as India’s full-time captain, also lauded left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, who claimed her maiden four-wicket haul in international cricket, for her clever variations, and said the rest of the attack had played its part too. "Vaishnavi was brilliant, she was varying her pace and changing the angles. She knows her game very well which is always good to have as a captain. And the other bowlers chipped in as well.

"In white ball cricket, I think 4-5 overs is still a long spell considering the heat. Of course today it was not that hot. Otherwise as well, you don’t want the batters to get used to it. The kind of quality we have in our bowling line-up, they can come in and bowl in good areas any time. As a batter you don’t want bowlers changing," she said.

She was also full of praise for Zimbabwe’s effort on the field in the afternoon heat. “Zimbabwe were brilliant in the field, and they stopped nearly 20-30 runs, especially in the point area. Brilliant to watch. I mean it’s really hot out there in the afternoon. "But the kind of trying and diving for every ball even in the 50th over. I don’t think they’ve dropped any catch in the last two series which is very nice. Good signs for women’s cricket in general," she added.

Zimbabwe captain Josephine Nkomo, who left the field during India’s innings after a diving stop, admitted she was carrying a few niggles but was pleased with her bowler's improvement from the series opener.

"I’m a bit sore. Tonight, have a lot of work to do with the physio. Today we bowled well in the powerplay, some decent lines, way better than the last game. Our death bowling today was a bit spot on, which is a positive."

She also felt her batters had let good starts go to waste, with Modester Mupachikwa (49) and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano (46) both falling short of fifties.

"In the batting, we had starts, we just failed to convert. I thought we were a bit tentative when we got into the 40s, I felt they could have continued, turning those 40s into 50s and 50s into hundreds."

On adjusting to the conditions, Josephine said the heat was not too different from what her side was used to back home and vowed that Zimbabwe would keep fighting in the final ODI, to be played on Wednesday.

"It was a bit hard at first (coping with the weather), but it’s not very different from Bulawayo at the moment. We don’t have anything to lose, and we should go on and fight till the last ball."