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After the T20I series loss against England, India's vice-captain Smriti Mandhana admitted the failure to create pressure through dot balls played a big role in their six-wicket loss to the English side in the third game. The left-handed opener focused on restricting scoring opportunities in the shortest format of the game and expressed confidence that the team will learn from the failure.
Smriti Mandhana opens up on the T20 WC preparations
Looking ahead to the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup, Mandhana said India must look to avoid the same mistake in the marquee tournament, so that they can challenge the top teams and go deep into the tournament.
Also Read: Flop RCB opener declared fit for England's first Test against New Zealand
India failed to display positive signs just before the T20 World Cup, losing the T20I series by 2-1 against England.
“We definitely started extremely well with the ball, (reducing England to) 35 for 3. I wouldn’t really take anything away from the partnership they had. I think they played really good cricketing shots," said Mandhana at the post-game press conference.
While continuing, Mandhana noted that they started well with the ball in the initial overs but failed to continue with the same momentum, as they couldn't build pressure on the opposition with dot balls.
“In hindsight, we would have been able to build pressure with a few dot balls, but we were not able to do that. We will definitely look at this game in a way where we can do better and not repeat these mistakes in the World Cup coming ahead," added Mandhana.
India's underwhelming performance in third T20I
Winning the toss, England invited India to bat first. India's opening duo of Smirti and Shafali Verma failed to give a solid start, as both got out on just 8 of 9 balls and 11 off 6 balls respectively. However, Yastika Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues took control of the innings. The left-handed batter smashed a quick-fire knock of 32 off 18 before getting run out by Sophie Ecclestone. Meanwhile, Jemimah was looking good before she lost her wicket to Lauren Bell after scoring 29 off 19 balls.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur scored a fighting unbeaten 56 runs off 40 balls, hitting seven boundaries at a strike rate of 140.00. On the other hand, all-rounder Deepti Sharma played a solid knock of 32 off 24 balls, which led India post 180/5 at the end of the first innings.
In response, England endured a similar start to India, as they suffered a top-order collapse. However, Alice Capsey and Heather Knight played astonishing knocks to seal the game for England. Alice was removed by Arundhati Reddy after scoring 82 off 43 with the help of nine boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of 190.70.
Meanwhile, Heather Knighed remained unbeaten with 70 off 42 balls with the help of 10 fours. The duo helped England win the game by six wickets.
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