Women Cricket World Cup, IND-W vs ENG-W: Smriti Mandhana shoulders blame for collapse

From needing 57 runs from as many balls and with 4 wickets in hand, India shockingly succumbed to a four-run defeat in opposition to England on the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday (October 19, 2025).

A largely snug chase went awry regardless of Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana organising the foundations for what ought to have been a simple win within the girls’s World Cup.

Smriti, who fell within the forty second over, shouldered the blame for the collapse.

“We may have accomplished higher with our shot picks. It began from me, so I’ll take it on me, the shot choice ought to have been higher. We simply wanted six runs per over. Maybe we must always have taken the sport deeper. The collapse began from me,” she stated.

“I used to be attempting to goal over covers and I mistimed that shot. Maybe the shot wasn’t wanted at the moment. I wanted to be extra affected person, all through the innings I used to be attempting to inform myself to be affected person and to not play aerial photographs. But the feelings took over for that one, which by no means helps in cricket.”

“Walking again, I used to be fairly assured that we’ll have the ability to get the win,” she admitted.

With fixed steadiness points within the marketing campaign, India bit the bullet and went for a six-bowler lineup. This meant Jemimah Rodrigues made approach for Renuka Singh Thakur.

Smriti stated that the circumstances in Indore and the necessity to discover the correct mixture had been what prompted a rejig of the workforce mixture.

“In the final two matches, we thought that 5 bowling choices weren’t adequate, particularly on a flat observe like Indore or how perhaps the second match in Vishakhapatnam [against Australia] performed out. With 5 choices, if one bowler has a nasty day, it actually prices us. It was undoubtedly a really powerful name to drop a participant like Jemi, however typically it is advisable to do these types of issues to get the steadiness proper,” she stated.

The 29-year-old additionally stated that India, not like its rivals Australia, England or New Zealand, doesn’t have the privilege of a powerful bowling depth. She, nonetheless, stated that the workforce mixture might be tinkered with on a match to match foundation.

“We should not privileged sufficient to have our batters who may bowl just a few overs, which loads of different groups have. But it’s not like this [six bowler setup] goes to be there, we’ll need to see how the scenario is, how the wicket will play after which we’ll take a name.”

India’s hopes of nicking the final spot within the semifinals relies upon closely on victories in its remaining matches.

“In cricket, nothing comes simple. For certain, the subsequent match [against New Zealand] can be the digital quarterfinal when it comes to moving into the highest 4. You don’t play cricket to have simple days. We’ll all take this in our stride. We know the place we may have gotten accomplished higher, the place we went fallacious. When you’re taking part in a sport, you’re meant to have good days and dangerous days. It’s about how you are taking these dangerous days and we transfer on.”