Velocity captain Mithali Raj said she personally would not have wanted to depend on the result of other teams to qualify for the final of the Women's T20 Challenge after her team’s massive 9-wicket defeat against Trailblazers on Thursday (November 5) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Mithali and her team got less than 12 hours after their first game on Wednesday to lock horns against Trailblazers and with lack of recovery time, the team has seen shocking downfall, as Velocity were bowled out for 47 on Thursday and eventually lost the game by 9 wickets against Trailblaze in Sharjah.
Trailblazers’ left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone took 4 for 9 to put Velocity in danger situation and they couldn’t make come back in the game in Sharjah. Later, Deandra Dottin's unbeaten 29 helped Trailblazers register a comfortable nine-wicket win over Velocity.
Following the massive loss to Trailblazers, Velocity has to wait for the result of the Trailblazers-Supernovas match having won its opening match against Supernovas to qualify for the finals of the Women's T20 Challenge 2020.
Mithali said at the post-match press conference, “All I could tell the bowlers was to stretch the game and bowl in a way where you can purchase wickets, it was one of those days which you would want to forget, having said we have come here to play I just wanted to give confidence to the girls to take a couple of wickets. I personally would not have wanted to depend on other teams to qualify for the final, but unfortunately, my team finds itself in that position, if Trailblazers beat Supernovas, then we stand a chance to qualify for the finals.”
On her call to bat first against Trailblazers, the skipper said, “Well, we carried the confidence from the last match, the middle order was very good in our last game, we thought the wicket was fresh and we did not want to take the pressure of chasing that is why we wanted to bat first. It was an afternoon game, there was no dew factor and the wicket was good so that is why we wanted to bat first and put up a good score on the board.”
Praising Ecclestone and Trailblazers, Mithali said: “Clearly, that is the reason why she (Sophie) is the number one in the world, she has come up with her game plan and she adjusted her line and length quickly, the new ball skids through and she made it difficult for the batters.”
She signed off by saying, “Trailblazers have a good bowling attack, they have Jhulan Goswami and Sophie Ecclestone, both are very experienced and both provided them with breakthroughs, it has been difficult for the girls to play an afternoon game after playing an evening game last night.”
(With ANI Inputs)
