It's good to start with a win after a tough 1.5 to 2 months: Smriti Mandhana | Cricket News

AHMEDABAD: Stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana praised India's bowling and fielding performances as they recovered from a “difficult” spell to secure a win against New Zealand in the first ODI of the three-match series.
of India Women's T20 World Cup The campaign earlier this month ended in disaster as they failed to reach the semi-finals after a 58-run defeat to Sophie Devine's New Zealand, who won the tournament.
However, this time Devine's side failed to reach a modest 228 and lost by 59 runs to India in the ODI series opener.

“It's been a tough 1.5 to 2 months so it feels good to start with a win. If you don’t believe in cricket, you won’t succeed,” Mandhana, who was captain in place of Harmanpreet Kaur, said during the post-match presentation.
Harmanpreet was rested for this game due to an unspecified issue.
The Indian batters also failed to convert their starts and lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out at under-par 227 in 44.3 overs.

“We had the conversation that we were underperforming but if we performed well we could add 20 to 30 runs. Saima set the tone for us with Suzie’s wicket,” Smriti said of the debutant, who scored 2 for 26.
“She (Saima) has been with us (for the last few months). She has been brilliant throughout and we have seen her work really hard. I'm really happy for her and hope this is just the beginning for her,” she added.
Saima said: “I was very patient, the team is great. That's the secret. To be honest, it was a flat wicket. It was a batsman's paradise. But we did really well as a bowling group and luckily it (the result) came in our favour.”
New Zealand T20 World Cup captain Devine was bizarrely dismissed for two after leaving the track and hitting the ball back to the bowler.
Bowler Deepti Sharma quickly threw it to wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia, who removed the balls with Devine's foot just outside the crease as the TV umpire confirmed the dismissal, giving India a crucial breakthrough and leaving New Zealand at 46/3.
“I thought she was outside her crease so I thought it was a good option to bowl her (to Yastika),” said player-of-the-match Deepti, who hit a 51-ball 41 to take 1/35 after nine overs came back.