India's Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj has expressed surprise at how her only Test against England ended last week. According to him, at the end of the game on the last day, the visiting team wanted to continue with the batting and 12 overs were yet to be bowled. In response to Raj's statement, England captain Heather Knight explained that poor lighting was the reason for the premature start of proceedings in Bristol.
Although no result other than a draw was possible at that time, two of India's five Test debutants, Sneh Rana and Tania Bhatia, were batting on unbeaten scores of 80 and 44 respectively, their ninth wicket rising to 108.
"We wanted to continue the game and we informed the opposite captain and he continued," Raj revealed ahead of the first match of the ODI series between the two sides. “But then I was told by Sneh Rana because I was also on the back foot when I saw the bails coming out and they were going out. So I asked him what happened and he said it was a bad light call by the umpire ..
"That was told to them. But then I saw that the teams were congratulating [each other] so the umpires said that since both the teams are congratulating, the match is over. That's what Sneh Rana told me So that's what happened.
Meanwhile, Knight revealed that while England were ready to accept the standoff, Raj was nowhere to be found.
"It became clear to us that it was going to end in a draw, so we asked the Indian team to join hands," Knight said. "We couldn't really find Mithali, so I think eventually we got a message back that we had to move on, which was fine. And then the umpires [Chris Watts and Sue Redfern] took us off for bad light And then the Indians came and shook hands with us. So that's what happened."
Knight also confirmed that Sunday's first ODI will be played on the new pitch and that Sophia Dunkley, who scored an unbeaten 74 on her Test debut last week, will play her first ODI.
"Yeah, I have a chance [to take a look at the pitch]," Knight said. "You'll be glad to hear it's a fresh one. It looks great, [with] a uniform cover of grass. Yes, [it] looks like a fairly good batting deck because it's usually a fresh wicket in Bristol." happens with."
Teams enter a three-ODI series, starting on an equal tack, with two points each, in the limited-overs leg of the multi-format tour. Wins in white-ball games, which also include three T20Is, will carry two points each.