"She's Earned A Lot Of Respect": Smriti Mandhana On Punam Raut's Decision To Walk

The Indian women's cricket team is in a strong position in the pink-ball Test against the Australian women's team, reaching 276/5 at stumps on Day 2 at the Carrara Oval in Queensland. Left-handed opening batter Smriti Mandhana has been the star of the show so far, after registering her maiden Test century on Friday, thus becoming the first Indian woman cricketer to score a Test hundred on Australian soil. Apart from Mandhana, the other Indian batter who made headlines on Day 2 was Punam Raut. India's number 3 batter scored a patient 36 off 165 deliveries before being dismissed by Sophie Molineux.

Raut got a faint edge while playing a shot outside the off stump as the ball was pouched safely by Australian wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy. The Aussies appealed in unison but the umpire was not convinced. Raut though did not wait for the umpire's signal and walked off. The India batter has since been lauded for her act as there was no DRS to determine whether she had actually edged the ball or not.

Speaking about Raut's decision to walk, Mandhana said that the India number 3 has received a lot of respect because of her decision.

"At first our reaction was, 'oh why did she do that, was there an edge?' But yeah, it's [sportsmanship] something we respect a lot. She's earned a lot of respect for actually walking out," said Smriti Mandhana at the end of the day's play, according to a report on Cricbuzz.

"I don't know how many people will actually do that in cricket at the moment, men's or women's if there's no DRS. Nowadays people walk out because there's DRS, but to walk off when there is no DRS - I don't know [how many would]. Definitely, she's earned a lot of respect from all of us for doing that," Mandhana added.

Raut has been receiving a lot of applause from the cricket fraternity and fans on social media for her decision to walk.