India opener Smriti Mandhana mentioned she was pleased with the batting unit making an effort to maintain the scoreboard shifting of their match in opposition to the West Indies on Saturday.
In the large 155-run win, arrange by centuries from Smriti (123 off 119) and Harmanpreet Kaur (109 off 107) main India to a mammoth 317/8, it was refreshing to see India make efforts to rotate the strike, make 62/2 in power-play, their finest rating on this section of the match, and by no means let the run-rate wobble.
“I feel we had a protracted dialogue within the assembly earlier than the match and mentioned how we couldn’t actually get going within the match in opposition to New Zealand. Then, all of us determined as a batting unit that we’ve to remain optimistic whatever the scenario we’re in. That’s one thing we consciously wished to work on and attempt to hold the scoreboard ticking,” said Smriti in the post-match virtual press conference.
“It was something I think we all really needed to work on in this match. I am happy that the whole batting unit could actually do that. To start with Yastika (Bhatia), the way she batted in the power-play (31 off 21 balls), I think it took a lot of pressure off me because even after losing three wickets, we still had a score on the board,” added Smriti, who shared her Player-of-the-Match award with Harmanpreet.
Talking concerning the method to maintain the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos throughout the 184-run partnership with Harmanpreet, Smriti remarked, “When she (Harmanpreet) got here in to bat, we had been focusing extra on singles and doubles as a result of we had misplaced three fast wickets and didn’t need to play one other shot or get out to one thing and by no means wished to cease the run price.
“Our dialogue was that we are going to hold batting and I used to be positive of getting singles and doubles after which changing the singles into doubles. That is one thing we had spoken about after the match in opposition to New Zealand. In the final sport, we didn’t begin the momentum and carry it additionally.
“So, Yastika had arrange the momentum for us within the batting innings and by no means wished to lose momentum as a result of we misplaced three wickets. We needed to hold it going however we couldn’t afford to play a elaborate shot. Those singles and doubles had been actually necessary within the center section.”
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