Star India batter Smriti Mandhana on Saturday admitted that her maiden T20 International hundred in the first match against England "took a long time coming" but was relieved to achieve the feat as she "had a habit of getting out".
Mandhana's 112 off 62 balls, including 15 fours and three sixes, helped India beat England by 97 runs to take 1-0 lead in the five-match T20I series.
"Took a long time coming. I had this habit of getting out. We were talking before this tour that it's high time I got a century," Mandhana, who led the team in the absence of injured Harmanpreet Kaur, said at the post-match presentation.
"We had good prep, these wickets are really good to bat on. We kept the wind factor in mind, just had to time the ball."
Mandhana praised Harleen Deol (43), with whom she added 94 runs for the second wicket, for the way she batted.
"The way Harleen batted, she got the momentum going after Shafali's wicket."
On the Indian bowling, she said, "We discussed after the first innings, if we are bowling against the wind we have to bowl slower. The bowlers, the way they executed the plans was outstanding.
"To start with, (wicketkeeper) Richa's catch was brilliant. We have four more matches so we need to keep the momentum going and keep good habits."
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt admitted that her side were poor in all departments of the game.
"They (India) challenged us greatly, we didn't bowl as well as we wanted to. You'd like to take every catch but things didn't go our way. Something to work on.
"When you're chasing 200 you have to keep going. Losing early wickets gets you behind the rate. Was trying to get on strike, come back for twos and give us a chance," she said.
On the positives for her team from the match, she said, "We executed at times well with the ball. Loads of things we can take, momentum with the powerplay with the bat.
"Five-match series, look forward to another opportunity at Bristol," said Brunt.
