Indian women’s T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur praised the senior cricketer Mithali Raj, who played a match-winning knock against Pakistan women on Sunday (November 11) in their second game of the 2018 Women’s World T20.
Chasing down 134 runs, India started from 10/0 after the on-field umpires awarded two penalties to India due to the Pakistan batswomen were running down the danger area of the pitch several times. As an opening batsman, Raj guided the team to the victory by scoring 56 runs off 47 balls (7 fours).
In the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet said, “Mithali is a key player and we have to use her in a smart way. Pakistan are a good bowling side, she’s (Mithali) very good against spin and that’s why we played her up there, it was a decision by the coach and me.”
However, the Indian players disappointed with their fielding as three catches were dropped in that crucial game. While the Indian skipper believes that they still have a long way to go, she also feels they are on the right track.
Harmanpreet added, “Disappointed with the way we fielded, in short format, it’s very important how we bowl or bat in the first six overs. The bowlers did well but we still have to improve. There is still a long way to go but I feel we are on the right track.”
Meanwhile, the Player of the Match award winner Mithali Raj claimed that she enjoys batting at any place. She has no doubt to reach the semi-finals of this tournament.
Raj said after the match, “I have always batted in the middle. I enjoy batting anywhere. Chasing puts a little pressure, but no matter what the challenge is, I always enjoy. I see there is no doubt that we will get to the semis, but as we go forward, we’ll be playing strong teams, so we will have to bring our A game in every match.”
On the other hand, Pakistan women’s captain Javeria Khan praised the two middle-order batters Bismah Maroof (53) and Nida Dar (52) who rescued the team from the difficult position and scored half-centuries. However, Javeria felt disappointed with their bowling performances as she believes that they could beat India despite the 10 penalty runs were awarded.
Javeria said, “I’m glad that we managed to get a total on the board and we had a partnership, both (Maroof and Nida Dar) played really well. These two have proven to the girls and everyone tried their best to do well for the team. Hopefully, we will learn from this going ahead and others stand up and perform.
“Our bowling effort was a bit disappointing despite being 10 runs short. It could have been a bit better, we took them until the 19th over, but we could have planned it better, if we had executed our plans, we might still have beaten them.”
