The young opening batswoman of Indian women’s cricket team Smriti Mandhana claimed that they didn’t consider the dew factor prior to the 2018 Women’s World T20 semi-final match against England women at North Sound that India women’s lost by eight wickets.

Prior to that semi-final encounter, India women were unbeaten in this tournament by winning four out of all four group stage matches. Playing their first night game in this competition during the semi-final, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur chose to bat first after winning the toss.

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India had a good start and once they were batting on 89/2, but suddenly the English spinners choked the Indian batting line-up and bundled them by just 112 runs (19.3 overs). In reply, England lost their both openers quickly and struggling on 24/2 but the next two batters Amy Jones and Natalie Sciver rescued the team from that difficult situation and carried the team to the comfortable victory.

Indian spinners started well by picking up two wickets at the very early stage. However, the dew factor went against them at later as England won the game without any further complication.

Mandhana said about the game, “We didn’t consider the dew factor. We had played 11 am matches, and had not played any 8 pm match. Even when we practised, we hadn’t seen any dew, so we didn’t think it would play a factor. But that played a huge factor as rather than spinning, our ball started skidding.”

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The T20I vice-captain Smriti Mandhana feels that they could have had more single-saving fielders to create more pressure in that low chase.

Mandhana said, “We could have had more single-saving fielders in the ring so that we encouraged them to hit us over the top. Because only wickets could win us the match and not playing 20 overs. I thought we could have been better on that part.”

However, Mandhana further added that they have no regret on their aggressive batting approach, despite a game-changing collapse in the semi-final.

The 22-year-old added, “(The aggressive approach) definitely, it has worked for us in the last three months. If you discount whatever happened in the semi-final, the way we have played as a group over the last three months has been brilliant. No one even gave us a chance to do well in the world cup.

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“Ramesh (Powar) had given specific roles to each person and that helped in the last 14 games we played in Sri Lanka, against Australia A and in the last four matches. Only if you lose one game, you cannot change your tactics or the strategy that has worked for you. Going forward, it is best to give one person a specific role, or if that person is not able to do it then you can identify other players who could be able to fit into that role.”