Delighted to have thumped Australia down via a 48-run win in the final group league encounter of the ICC Women’s World T20, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has said that the quality spread across all departments of her team is prevailing on the field and India reaching the semi-finals without dropping a game in the tough Group B exemplify that perfectly.
“When you have a good team, you have to perform well,” Harmanpreet said at the end of the game at the Providence Stadium, Guyana on Saturday, November 17, “I am very happy with the (performance from the) girls. We worked very hard and today, we fielded well. I am proud of the girls. Hope the sort of partnership I had with Smriti (68 in 7 overs) can keep coming.”
On the other hand, the affable Smriti Mandhana, who played an outstanding knock of 83 from just 55 balls and glittered the effort with her heartwarming strokeplay, received Player of the match honour on the day.
Speaking on her individual excellence, she said, “First three matches I got starts but couldn’t convert it. So I just wanted to score big today,” before adding, “Veda insisted on the review, and thanks to her we got 20-30 runs extra. The way we bowled and fielded today was the best of the four games, but batting-wise the performance against New Zealand was better.”
Right-hand batter and youngest player in the squad that also includes the might of Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues also assessed the fantastic victory and expressed that the objective is to continue the good run.
“I think it’s important not just because it’s Australia, but for ourselves and our team, because we’ve got the momentum,” she said, “So we need to keep that momentum, keep doing the things, don’t focus mainly on the results."
"So I think it plays a huge impact on our team and I think we look forward to it, but not get carried away and try to do even better in the semi-finals,” and signed off.
Awaiting confirmation on who their opponent will be, India kickstarts the knock-round with the second semi-final at Antigua on Thursday, Nov'22.
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
