Women’s World T20 | Everyone was motivated enough after Asia Cup, asserts Smriti Mandhana

11/16/2018

Smriti Mandhana has stated that the Indian women’s cricket team was motivated enough after losing the Asia Cup final to Bangladesh earlier this year. She also mentioned that no one thought the Indians will march into the semi-finals of the World T20 after their poor show in the Asia Cup final.

The Indian side has booked a berth in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World T20 being held in West Indies after beating Ireland by 52 runs in a one-sided league game played on Thursday in Guyana. The Irish women failed to chase down 146 runs in 20 overs and managed to score only 93 in stipulated overs. Slow left-armer Radha Yadav picked up three wickets for the Indians while Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, and Jemimah Rodrigues managed to scalp one each.

India have entered the semi-final of an ICC event for the second consecutive time after remaining unbeaten in their first three league matches. Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has been of the opinion that the loss against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup final had motivated the players but people back home didn’t give India a chance to get into the top four of the world event.

“It means a lot because after the Asia Cup final, a lot of things happened back home. Everyone had actually thought that we wouldn’t even make it to the semi-finals because we did not even win the Asia Cup. But I guess everyone was motivated enough after the Asia Cup that this time, this is the time everyone will be watching, and we have to prove our point because in 2017 we qualified for the final, but only it cannot happen just once,” Mandhana told reporters after the win against Ireland.

Madhana scored 33 runs yesterday adding 67 runs for the opening wicket along with Mithali Raj (51), who was adjudged Player of the Match for her knock. India could manage only 145/6 at the end of the innings as no one else could get a decent start and wickets kept on falling at regular intervals.

Speaking about the game against Ireland, Mandhana said, “The first two matches I definitely felt we were good, but today I felt batting could have been better. But bowling and fielding I think we are really good, and we dominated the opposition.”

“I didn’t think that 140 was good enough because in T20s you can’t keep thinking about the wicket and the outfield because it’s such a fast game. So I think we were aiming at 165 to 170, but unfortunately, we could not do that.”

India would take on Australia in the last game of Group B but both the teams have already made it to the semi-finals of the tournament. The winner of the game, which is scheduled to be played on Saturday, would finish at the top of the table. Mandhana has asserted that the team has come to the West Indies with a mindset of going all out against the opponents and this would not change in the last league game either.

“I think we will be looking at it as a match only and not just like we need to be on the top of the table of this group. That’s what our mindset will be, and to go all out. Before coming into the World T20, Ramesh (Powar, the coach) had told us that you have to dominate each and every match, so that is the only mindset which we had the last three matches, and I don’t think it will change in the next match,” the 22-year-old explained.

Women’s World T20 | Everyone was motivated enough after Asia Cup, asserts Smriti Mandhana

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