With harder games coming up having qualified for the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, India Women captain Harmanpreet Kaur has stressed that India can't keep making “silly mistakes” after her team’s close win over New Zealand Women.
In a Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 group match on Thursday, India made a great start and even they were brilliant till the 10 overs in the match but their middle-order has once again put them down, losing a flurry of wickets and posting a below-par total of 133/8 against the White Ferns.
The Women in Blue have suffered another middle-order collapse in Melbourne as they went from 80 for 2 in 11 overs to 133 for 8 in 20 overs and then their spin-heavy bowling attack has once again rescued, as they hold their nerves and eventually restricted the White Ferns to 129/6 to win the game by 4 runs to make it to the semi-final with one group game left against Sri Lanka on Feb 29.
Following the victory, Kaur said she feels great with the team’s performance in the tournament, but the eves have to stop repeating those mistakes if they want to go long in the mega event. So far in the tournament, India’s middle-order hasn't clicked but they have managed to get past the finish line thanks to some strong bowling and fielding performances so far.
Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match, “It's a great feeling when your team performs day in day out. Still, we made the same mistakes after a good first ten overs, we got a good start but couldn't carry the momentum. We can't make silly mistakes with harder games coming up.”
The skipper also lauded young batting sensation Shafali Verma who has been instrumental in India’s success in the T20 World Cup 2020 so far.
Kaur signed off by saying, “She (Shafali) is giving us good starts and I hope she continues doing that as quick runs at the top are really important to us.”
(With IANS Inputs)
