Ujjain, Oct 15 (IANS) The Indian women’s cricket team visited Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar Temple on Wednesday to seek blessings after suffering back-to-back defeats in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup.

The players participated in the early morning Bhasma Aarti and spent time in offering prayers in the Nandi Hall. The Bhasma Aarti at Mahakaleshwar is regarded as a spiritually powerful ritual, performed in the early morning hours. It holds profound importance for devotees, who see it as a rare chance to witness the divine form of Lord Mahakal in a solemn and mystical setting.

India started off its World Cup campaign with back-to-back wins; however, their losses to South Africa and Australia in the following matches in Vizag have put their World Cup campaign on hold. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side are currently fourth on the points table with four points from four matches and a net run rate of 0.682, with three league-phase games still to play.

While dropping back-to-back games, India have shown they can mix it with the elite teams. While being on the wrong end of the result, their performance against Australia – in a match that very much lived up to the hype – showed they have batting lineup capable of going all the way.

Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol and Richa Ghosh have been their major contributors with the bat, while Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and Kranti Gaud have all proven effective wicket takers. The hosts have plenty of potential match-winners as the tournament stakes keep rising.

India will next face England at Indore on Sunday, followed by matches against New Zealand on October 23) and Bangladesh on October 26) at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

India need to win their remaining three games to finish the league stage with 10 points to make it to the semifinals.

–IANS

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