India defeated New Zealand by four runs in their nail-biting group league match and reached the semifinals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup but captain Harmanpreet Kaur expects a better performance from the batters especially after the first 10 overs which India failed to do so far. Throughout the tournament, India managed to start well on the back of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, but the inability to carry forward the start by the middle order batters has let them down till date.

“It is a great feeling when your team is performing like that. We made the same mistakes; we got a good start in the first 10 overs and we didn’t carry the momentum. We did bowl well in patches and sometimes we were not up to the mark and have to focus on those areas,” Harmanpreet said after the match.

Harmanpreet’s comments were backed by Bhatia, who scored a 25-ball 23 including three fours as well n the post-match press conference.

“We’re in a really positive position. We’ve been playing well ever since the tri-series. I think we’ve got a lot better as a team in working out how to handle and read situations well. It’s just one or two odd games where our batters failed to perform,” she said.

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“I’m ready to bat wherever the team wants me to bat. I can bat well up the order and I know I’m capable of scoring runs there. The results are in our favour, but we need to keep up the momentum. If we do that, we will do well and hopefully reach the finals,” she shared.

As for their top order, young Shafali Verma has been in a formidable form for India in the World Cup. In three matches, Verma has scored of 29, 39 and 46. Both Harmanpreet Kaur and Taniya praised her.

“She (Shafali) is giving us good starts and I hope she continues doing that as quick runs at the top are really important to u,” the skipper said.

Bhatia said this about Verma: I think Shafali is giving us a good start and the rest of us batters will take up responsibility.”