Mithali Raj achieves yet another milestone for India against Ireland

After her scintillating innings vs Pakistan, Mithali Raj achieved yet another milestone in her career. Opening the batting for India, something she usually does not do, Mithali Raj surpassed Rohit Sharma to become the highest run-scoring Indian in T20Is. It was experience and the sheer ability to stay calm on the pitch that warranted her to keep batting the way she did in a pressured situation, according to some cricket match predictions. The memories of the close two-run loss in the last T20 World Cup still seemed to be fresh. India had already garnered a victory vs New Zealand in the first match and, to keep that momentum going seemed to be the biggest priority of the team. What Mithali also did was overshadow just how sloppy the Indian fielding actually was during Pakistan's period of batting. There were a total of four dropped catches during the duration in question which might prove to be a concern for the Indian team in their next match vs Ireland. A win will see them through to the semi-finals of the Women's World T20. This is also going to be the first time the two countries face in a T20 International. At this point, it is easy to be optimistic about India's chances in the tournament based on the two scintillating performances we have seen so far. While the first match gave us a complete view of exactly what Harmanpreet Kaur is capable of when given the right stage, the second game showed us the value of experience even if they were placed in the batting order in a way that is not the usual norm. Between Kaur, who is also the captain, and her unflinching way of proving her doubters wrong on her first major tournament as Indian captain and the perfect mix of youth and experience that the rest of the team brings, India might just be ready to take on this tournament heads on. It helps that confidence is especially high after a noteworthy performance in the World Cup earlier in 2017 which saw Raj and her team finish second. That tournament, considered in many ways the launchpad for women's cricket in India, brought the team into the limelight. Their progress garnered public support and therein began the lionising of women like Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy and Punam Raut. The trend has continued to grow over the past year. Going by Ireland's nervy performance vs Australia in the ongoing Women's World T20, it might suffice to say that India have an easy task ahead of them. Kim Garth has been the sole bright spot in their batting line up notching up a stable total of 24 in the face of ruthless bowling by the Aussies. It should be nothing that a structuralised Indian squad cannot tackle. Two games so far have given the fans watching back home enough reason to hope when it comes to the Indian team. What happens now remains to be seen on the 15th.