In the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur who was rested for India’s last group stage game of Women’s T20 Asia Cup, Smriti Mandhana donned the captaincy hat against Nepal on July 24. After the winning the toss, Mandhana opted to bat first but did not come out to open alongside Shafali Verma. After the 122-run opening partnership between Shafali and Dayalan Hemalatha, Mandhana did not walk out to bat at all against Nepal. After the 82-run win, the opener explained that it was a tactical move ahead of the semifinal clash.
"As an opener you don't get a lot of games where you don't bat. Much needed game time for all the other batters. The middle order hasn't batted in the previous games," Mandhana said during the post-match presentation.
"The conditions were different and it is always good to have game time under your belt. The middle order didn't get time in the South Africa series as well, so good they could spend some time in the middle."
Convincing win over Nepal
Hemalatha played second fiddle to Shafali who launched a brutal onslaught against Nepal. She hit 12 fours and a six in her 48-ball 81 whereas Hemalatha contributed missed her half-century by just three runs. Both openers were dismissed by Sita Rana. Later, Jemimah Rodrigues' unbeaten 15-ball 28 cameo helped India post 178/3. Nepal could not put up a fight and managed to post 96/9 in 20 overs. They lost the match by 82 runs and bowed out of the tournament with one win from three group stage games.
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Preparing for T20 World Cup 2024
Mandhana said that each tournament in the last few months has been a preparation for T20 World Cup 2024 which will take place in Bangladesh later this year.
"Not only this tournament, but also in the last five or six months, the preparations started post WPL, there are a lot of fine tuning to be done and we have to keep improving, cannot go into a World Cup under prepared," the southpaw said.
Not taking Bangladesh lightly
India are likely to take on Bangladesh in the semifinal on July 26 until and unless they lose to Malaysia on July 24. Mandhana is in no mood to take Bangladesh lightly.
"You don't take any team (semifinal opponents) lightly, we have two days to rest and practice before we go out and apply ourselves," said the 28-year-old.
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