India aim to turn England loss into T20 World Cup lessons
Despite a 2-1 series defeat in their final international outing before the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, India keep a positive outlook ahead of the event.
After a confident win in the first T20I courtesy Jemimah Rodrigues and Nandni Sharma’s brilliance, India sustained back-to-back losses to give up their advantage in the T20I series against England.
Despite the 2-1 series loss, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana stressed on the need to buckle up and deliver in the tournament ahead.
Speaking after the loss in the third T20I in Taunton, Smriti mentioned that getting acclimatised to the English conditions was a big boost in India’s preparations for the global mega-event and that they’d recognised areas that needed improvement.
“Coming in early, and playing a series in England, where we’ve a World Cup to play, in terms of preparations, it’s extremely good to do that. But thinking back, both me and Shafali (Varma) have a huge role to play forward.”
Smriti was referring to the patchy form of India’s opening pair who have scored a cumulative of 75 runs across the three games.
For the India opener, it was a matter of application.
Smriti Mandhana's classy fifty | Player Highlights | WT20WC 2024
“We both are timing the ball well but unfortunately are not able to contribute in big ways for the team.
“But yeah again for both of us, we’ll go back in the nets and keep working hard and make sure that we come back better as an opening pair because both of us pride ourselves to give good starts and keep the momentum going. We’ll take it in our stride and work hard.”
Smriti also mentioned how the shortest format of the game needed vigilance from the side with the upper hand, as the pendulum could swing the other way at any moment.
“In T20 games momentum keeps shifting. We started really well with the ball, putting them at 35/3 [38/3], but then I wouldn’t take anything away from the partnership they had."
Every Harmanpreet Kaur boundary | WT20WC 2024
The best of Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur with the bat at the Women's T20 World Cup 2024
Smriti was referring to the 137-run stand between Heather Knight and Alice Capsey that helped the hosts cruise to a six-wicket win, overcoming India’s target of 181 with nine balls to spare.
“I think they played really good cricketing shots, they played all around the ground.”
However, with the loss came crucial learnings for India’s bowling effort as well.
“On bowling, we’ll go to the drawing board, and see which options are better. We did that before this series, maybe we can go back again. Now I think I know in these conditions what balls are to be bowled.”
A positive for India in the game was skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who helped stabilise the India innings after early losses and anchored it to 180 with her unbeaten 56.
Smriti was all praise for her captain.
“Harman when she’s at her best, it’s a sight to watch. Really important innings under pressure, especially when we needed that sort of knock to get us to 180-plus.”
Smriti took Harmanpreet’s knock to make a bigger point, reflecting on the good form of India’s batters heading into the tournament.
“Really happy but I just feel that everyone is in a good nick, and it’s a good sign going into the T20 World Cup that Jemi (Rodrigues), Harman everyone are really looking beautiful to watch from the outside. Hopefully, I can watch them from the inside as well.”
Looking forward to the tournament, Smriti was asked about India’s opening encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan on 14 June in Birmingham.
Smriti looked forward at the game and the event in general as being a massive success for the women’s game.
“We did play Pakistan in Birmingham, and it was a sell-out. Not just India-Pakistan, we really need to hype up the T20 World Cup. In fact, it’s already hyped up. I’m sure a lot of people will come and watch us play. Hopefully we can put up a good show for them.”