New Delhi: India opener Pratika Rawal credited her preparation and confidence at the crease for her unbeaten century against Zimbabwe in the first ODI at the BCA Stadium in Kotambi, Vadodara, on Friday, as the reigning 50-over World Cup champions registered a nine-wicket victory in the three-match series opener.
Rawal struck 100 not out off 96 deliveries, sharing an opening stand with Smriti Mandhana before finishing the chase alongside Shafali Verma. Reflecting on her rhythm with the bat, the opener said feeling in control of her strokes helped her avoid unnecessary pressure.
“As a batter when you tap that bat, you feel confidence. Every day, obviously, is different but when you know that you’re middling the ball well, your balls are going into those gaps, you’re hitting the shots where you want to hit, so it becomes actually easier because you’re not very clustered in your mind. You don’t have multiple thoughts in your mind, so it becomes very easy when you’re batting in that sense. It was one of those days and I’m really happy that it came through really well,” Pratika said in a BCCI video.
The century also brought back memories of Rawal’s first ODI hundred, a milestone she had not realised coincided with the day’s match until coach Amol Muzumdar pointed it out before the innings. Mandhana then encouraged her to recreate the feat.
“I had no idea to be very honest that this was the day when I scored my first ODI 100. But we were sitting before going into bat and there was this match coming on TV which was New Zealand against India, and I was asking Amol sir, this was around that time only…and then he said this is the exact day when you scored a 100, and then Smriti di said, ‘Chalo aaj bhi karte hain phir’…let’s just recreate it; it’s the exact same number of runs…the kind of partnership that we had that day. So it’s good memories, World Cup memories…it’s always good to be back in that groove,” she stated. IANS
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