Smriti Mandhana believes India's back-to-back 3-0 series wins against the West Indies and Ireland have provided the perfect momentum towards making it their best year in One-Day Internationals.
India will host the women's ODI World Cup later this year and the hosts, who have been able to rediscover their form with six consecutive wins, should drive home the advantage now, said the left-hander.
"Two 3-0 sweeps are definitely really good in a World Cup year especially. We have to like keep going and have this for the best year for one-days (dayers)," Mandhana said in a video shared by BCCI.
Mandhana (135) and Pratika Rawal (154) put on 233 for the first wicket in Wednesday's third ODI against Ireland -- the third highest opening wicket partnership for India in ODIs. The rampaging Indian team smashed their way to their highest ever ODI total of 435/5 before crushing Ireland by a record 304-run margin -- their biggest margin of victory in 50-overs cricket.
"I wanted to go out and bat with a lot of freedom. I said in the dugout before I went in about that you know, I am going to try and play my shots because not many times you get an opportunity to do that," Mandhana said.
Rawal, who notched up her first hundred to make 154 off 129 balls with 20 fours and one six, admitted she slowed down nearing her century but gained pace of scoring once she was past the landmark.
"As a batter I always wanted to score more runs and doing that for your country is actually a privilege and I am very happy," she said.
"After 70, I was a bit conscious that there was a hundred (on the cards). I was taking singles and going slow but when I got the hundred, I was like, let's just go for it. The 50 runs after the hundred came a bit quicker. I was able to score the way I score, she said.
Talking about her 233-run opening stand with the senior batter, Rawal said, "It felt like that it was happening with the flow, we didn't think about it."
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