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.
Because you’re not very cluttered in your mind, every day, obviously, is different, but when you know that you’re middling the ball well, your shots are finding the gaps and you’re hitting the ball where you want to, it becomes easier. Because this is something that I’ve worked on recently, so I’m really happy that it all turned out well,” she added, i wanted to score a lot of boundaries; I wanted to go about it.
It was one of those days and I’m really happy that it came through really well,” Pratika said in a BCCI video. “As a batter, when you tap that bat, you feel confidence. You don’t have multiple thoughts in your mind, so it becomes very easy when you’re batting in that sense. “Luckily, the wicket was in our favour. It was a flat track, the ball wasn’t doing much, plus the kind of field placement that they had put helped us a lot. Also, I think when you’re batting well in the nets, when you have prepared well in your practice sessions, you feel that kind of confidence, you feel that kind of stability in your mind that it doesn’t take a lot from you in terms of being stressed out, where I have to hit, ‘Oh, the runs are not coming’. So it’s basically how you prepare, and I wanted to play in that manner.
“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. Mandhana then encouraged her to recreate the feat. So it’s good memories, World Cup memories…it’s always good to be back in that groove,” she stated.
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.
“I think Sree Charani is a special player. There are no ifs and buts about it. I’ve seen her bowl since her debut, and the way she has grown is commendable. On a wicket like this, where the ball isn’t doing much, to be able to get those wickets and break those partnerships is commendable. It’s a long way ahead for her and if she keeps her head down, she’s going to go way up and be in that legend category. She has that calibre; it’s just that she has to believe,” Pratika concluded.
