Cricketers of the Week – February 12th to February 18th
The highlight of this week’s cricket was the way the Indian eves put in some sterling performances in the World Cup qualifiers. Along with the World Cup Qualifiers at Colombo, there were also two T20Is, one of them a nail-biting thriller.
Australia fielded a relatively depleted side and lost the first T20I against Sri Lanka at the MCG while South Africa thrashed an in-form New Zealand side in their own den at Auckland in the lone T20I between the two teams.
Let us take a look at the top 5 cricketers of the week, whose performances really lit up the scene.
Mithali Raj
The skipper of the Indian Women’s team has been on a roll and produced two dashing performances with the bat, first against South Africa and then against Bangladesh. Against Bangladesh in Colombo in the Super Sixes of the qualifiers, Mithali scored an unbeaten 73* off just 87 balls as the Indian Women’s team chased down 158 in just 33.3 overs after Bangladesh managed only 155 in their allotted 50 overs.
A couple of days before prior to that innings, Raj hit an 85-ball 64 to push India to 205 against South Africa, who were all out for 156. Raj’s Player of the Match performance was complemented by Shikha Pandey, who produced a fine bowling display, with figures of 4-34 in 9.4 overs.
Extra Cover: ICC Women's World Cup 2017: India, South Africa record comfortable wins to book places in World Cup 2017
Raj is currently the highest run-getter in the tournament with 207 runs in 3 innings, having been dismissed just once and scoring a half-century in each of those innings.
Mansi Joshi was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 3-25 in her 10 overs.