Former skipper Mithali Raj once again came to India's rescue with a fluent half century to help the women-in-blue post a below-par 145/6 against Ireland in their third match of the ICC Women's World T20 at the Providence Stadium here on Thursday.
Mithali, who top-scored with a 56-ball 51, laced with 4 fours and a six, did not find a stable partner at the other end, thanks to some casual batting from her teammates and immaculate bowling from the Irish women.
In the process, the veteran right-hander also created a new record of being the highest run-getter for India in T20Is with 2283 runs. Rohit Sharma (2207 runs) is the second in the list, followed by men's team skipper Virat Kohli.
Put in to bat, India got off to a steady 67-run start from Mithali and Smriti Mandhana (33 off 29 balls; 4X4, 6X1) before the southpaw once again departed after getting a decent start.
The young Jemimah Rodrigues (18 off 11; 4X3) got off to a brisk start and quickly added 40 runs for the second wicket with Mithali before being stumped off Irish captain Laura Delany's bowling.
Thereafter, the in-form India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (7) and No.5 Veda Krishnamurthy (9) departed in quick succession, leaving India reeling at 127/4.
Mithali, however, waged a lone battle bringing up her sedate half century off 54 deliveries but perished soon, caught behind off Kim Garth.
Towards the end, Dayalan Hemalatha (4), Deepti Sharma (10 not out) and Radha Yadav (1 not out) failed to accelerate the scoring rate as India ended up with 145.
Brief Scores: India 145/6 (Mithali Raj 51, Smriti Mandhana 33; Kim Garth 2/22) vs Ireland.
--IANS
tri/sed
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