England series is for retiring Jhulu di: Mandhana

The 39-year-old Jhulan Goswami will bid adieu to the game at the end of the ongoing three-match ODI series against England

Star batter Smriti Mandhana, who set up India women's comprehensive win over England women in the first ODI here, said the visitors are trying to give a fitting farewell to pace bowling legend Jhulan Goswami, who is retiring from international cricket after a 20-year-long illustrious career.

The 39-year-old Goswami will bid adieu to the game at the end of the ongoing three-match ODI series. She has played 12 Tests (44 wickets), 202 ODIs (253 wickets) and 68 T20Is (56 wickets).

"I want to say that this series is for Jhulu di (Jhulan Goswani), her bowling was amazing. All our efforts in this series will be for Jhulu di," Mandhana, who hit 91 off 99 balls, said after India's seven-wicket win on Sunday night.

Goswami (10-2-20-1) also played her part in India's win as she was accuracy personified with 42 dot balls, helping her side restrict England to 227 for 7.

The 26-year-old Mandhana, who was adjudged player-of-the-match, admitted that her natural batting comes out better in ODI games than in T20Is.

"ODIs are natural for me, T20s I have to put effort to take care of the strike rate. In ODIs I can just react. But I'm happy to lay the platform." She said she would have been happier had she remained unbeaten.

Mandhana was the last Indian batter to get out, in the 37th over, with India still needing 30 runs to win.