Dubai: After comprehensively thrashing Sri Lanka by 82 runs to keep their semifinal hopes alive in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said Wednesday’s match was one of those days when she was in the zone to conjure up magic with the bat.
After India had a splendid 98-run opening stand, where vice-captain Smriti Mandhana hit a 38-ball fifty and Shafali Verma made 46, Sri Lanka fought back by dismissing the duo on successive deliveries. But Harmanpreet, coming to bat at number three, applied perfect finishing touches by smoking pacers and spinners on both sides of the ground to hit a 27-ball unbeaten 52.
“We just wanted to go with the momentum, Shafali and Smriti gave us a good start. Credit goes to them. They were there on the pitch, calculative, and didn’t throw their wicket away. Jemi (Jemimah Rodrigues) and I, just wanted to score seven-eight runs an over. It was one of the days when I was in my zone, whenever the ball was in my zone, I went hard.”
“I was only thinking about the positives. This wicket was not true to batting, you have to keep rotating the strike. Once the ball is in your zone you can go for it. It’s not like you can keep swinging the bat. We were there and didn’t throw the wicket away. Really happy for the team,” said Harmanpreet, named Player of the Match, in the post-game presentation ceremony.
It was a game where India shone in all departments – after the batters posted a massive total on board, all five bowlers took wickets and kept their economy rates below five, while the fielders took great catches to ensure the net run rate rose to 0.560, and zoom past New Zealand to occupy second spot in Group A.
“When you play good cricket, you always feel well. All boxes were ticked today. Happy we took all the catches, which is very important for us. We did discuss before the game if we are batting first what’s the target we want to set and if we are fielding what should be the score, but these wickets are tricky.”
“In between we lost two wickets back-to-back. Today a lot of things went according to plan, we were thinking of 160 and we posted 170. You have to think about NRR also when you are in this position,” added Harmanpreet.
India’s final match in Group A will be against Australia at Sharjah on Sunday, and Harmanpreet thinks the team has to play well against the defending champions. “We have to play good cricket (vs Australia). Good to see our bowlers getting in good rhythm and giving us breakthroughs. These wickets are tricky as I said. As a captain, happy we played good cricket.”
Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu said the team needs to go back to the drawing board and look at the areas they need to improve. “We struggled even in the bowling. We dropped catches. We didn’t bowl in the right areas. Batters including me and Vishmi didn’t do a good job. We have to rethink what we have to do and bounce back.”
“The first game is important in this tournament. It was low-scoring and as a batting unit, we had to chase (but we didn’t). After that, the dressing room was a little down. I try to lift them. Happy with the bowling unit in the last two games. We have to improve our batting,” she concluded.
(IANS)
