New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) Former India skipper Mithali Raj extended a heartfelt tribute to New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine, who played her 159th and final ODI at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, saying she set a “standard for excellence and camaraderie” that will inspire generations to come.

Sophie made her ODI debut in 2006 against Australia and signed off with 4,279 runs in the format, including nine centuries. She also took 111 wickets with her seam bowling. Overall, Sophie is the only New Zealand player and the third overall to achieve the double of scoring over 4,000 runs and taking more than 100 wickets in the format.

“Your journey with the White Ferns has been a testament to hard work, resilience, and leadership. You’ve set a standard for excellence and camaraderie that will inspire generations to come. Best wishes for what lies ahead,” Mithali posted on X.

The 36-year-old final ODI resulted in an eight-wicket loss and marked a disappointing end to the tournament for the White Ferns, who won the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup last year but have only tasted victory once in this competition.

Devine scored 23 runs and took a wicket in her emotional swansong, which concluded with a guard of honour from both teams. However, she was unable to hide her frustration with how the last few weeks have unfolded.

“It’s disappointing. Not to make it about me but I really wanted to go out on a high and the performance wasn’t there today. It’s not the way we wanted our tournament go but there are bigger things going on in life so we will move on,” Sphie had said after the match.

“It’s just confidence and belief. We spoke about it after the World Cup win last year, we are good enough to be here and when we play our best cricket, we can beat any team in the world. We just have to keep believing that. I’m really excited about the talent starting to come through, the energy in the group, they have such a high ceiling. It’s just about that self-belief and knowing their best is good enough,” she added.

–IANS

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