India women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that the likes of ace batter Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues were looking for runs in the crucial encounter against Australia, but couldn’t
find them, adding that her team didn’t play well against the ‘good’ teams.
Harmanpreet smashed a brisk 56 off 27 deliveries, but the rest of the batting line-up struggled to maintain the momentum as India finished on a below-par 170/4, a reflection of the batting unit’s inconsistency throughout the ICC tournament.
India made a solid start through openers Mandhana (38) and Shafali Verma (34), who added 66 runs, but their cautious approach meant the scoring rate rarely climbed above seven an over.
“End of the day, we got a decent total on the board. In between when I was batting, I thought we were a little short, but the last couple of overs did the job. They were looking for the runs but could not do so (the batters who struggled today),” Harmanpreet said while speaking at the post-match presentation.
“If I have to think about the entire tournament, we did not do well against good teams. Against the best teams, your best always comes (talking about her knock). I think we need to rethink that,” Harmanpreet added.
There were occasional flares of aggression, like Shafali’s two sixes off off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner or Mandhana’s consecutive boundaries off pacer Kim Garth.
India reached a steady 43/0 at the end of the power play but couldn’t accelerate when the chance arose. Shafali looked to up the tempo, only to perish while attempting to take on Australia skipper Sophie Molineux.
“They are one of the best (on Australia). I think they bowled according to their plans. We did not lose wickets, but at the same time, we did not get what we were expecting,” Harmanpreet said.
