Mumbai: Indian women’s team skipper Mithali Raj said that she was very much surprised by West Indies skipper Merissa Aguilleira’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss on a flat pitch in the inaugural match of the ICC Women World Cup at Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.

“If I had won the toss, I would have chosen to bat first on this flat track. Here, it would be easy to post a big total rather than chasing it down,” Raj said after her team’s thumping win on Thursday.
 

Though India defeated the West Indies by a huge margin of 105 runs, Raj said, “She was nervous when the 21-year-old player from Barbados, Deandra Dottin, was at the crease.” Dottin played a cameo 16-ball 39 runs, which was studded with four sixes and three fours.
 

“I was thinking from where she got so much of strength to clear the boundary and that too on a regular basis. I give her credit for her wonderful stroke-playing ability. I am glad that her innings didn’t last long,” said Mithali.
 

When West Indian skipper was asked about her decision to bowl first, she said, “It was a team decision. Moreover we could have chased the score if our batters could have applied in a better way than they did.”
 

Asked if Dottin should have been promoted in the batting order, Aguilleira said, “I think Dottin is in a good position. If she would have spent another 10 overs there, she could have done extremely well and get the score closer.”
 

Raj, who batted at number eight in the match, said, “She wanted the batters to slog in those last overs after the openers had given them an ideal start. “The openers gave us a fantastic start. After that I thought it was wise to send those players who can throw the bat and get those runs and that definitely paid us some good results. Jhulan and Harmanpreet’s cameo were crucial.”.