Who would Mithali Raj 'take a cue' from on how to win tosses? Indian skipper reacts

India Women’s skipper Mithali Raj has admitted that she needs to take cues from legendary Indian skipper MS Dhoni on how to win tosses while speaking after drawing the India Women vs Australia Women, one-off pink-ball Test match on October 3. Raj, while leading India Women, in their tour of Australia, didn’t win the toss in even a single match, during the three ODIs and the lone Test. During the toss at the Carrara Test, the Indian skipper changed her call at the last moment and the coin landed in favor of Australia, as they chose to field first. 

Mithali Raj was asked during the post-match press conference about her call at the toss after the match ended in a draw. Replying to the question, she said, “You know the history of me losing the toss, I didn’t want it to become a legacy. And the way the girls have been pulling my leg for that, so I thought ok let me change. But I clearly think I need to take a cue from MS Dhoni regarding how to win a toss.” Mithali lost the toss in all four matches, India has played in their tour of Australia, so far. 

The match ended in a draw after Australia won the toss and chose to field first

Despite losing the toss, India displayed incredible efforts in their first-ever pink-ball Test. The Indian women scored a first innings score of 377 runs at the loss of eight wickets, before declaring the innings. Opener Smriti Mandhana top-scored in the match, courtesy of her maiden Test century of 127 runs off 216 balls. Deepti Sharma also added valuable runs as the no. 6 batter by scoring 66 individual runs in 167 balls. At the same time, the Indian skipper, earlier in the innings, scored 30 valuable runs in 86 balls. Australia scored 241/9 in reply to India's first innings score, after which India set Australia's fourth-innings target of 272 runs by scoring 135/3 in the third innings. The match ended in a draw with Australia on 36/2 at the end of the final day.

With the three-match ODI series and the one-off Pink ball test completed, Australia will now face India in a three-match T20I series. India’s T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur is expected to make a return to the team, having sat out of the ODI series, and the Test match due to a finger injury. Under the captaincy of Raj, India lost the ODI series 2-1 to Australia, whereas the lone Test match ended in a draw. Meanwhile, the three-match T20I series is set to begin at the Carrara Stadium, with the first Ind W vs Aus W T20I on October 7.

(Image: AP)