Onus on top 4 to bat long to protect middle order, admits Smriti Mandhana

02/16/2020

According to Smriti Mandhana, the top four has to bat long to protect the fragile middle order during the ICC Women's World Cup in Australia on February 21. Australia head coach Matthew Mott believes that India have the most feared batting line-up at the T20 World Cup and former agrees to it.

In-form opener, Smriti Mandhana admitted that India's top four need to bat long to protect the fragile middle-order during the ICC Women's T20 World cup in Australia. India’s latest collapse happened against Australia in the Tri-series final where they lost seven wickets for 29 runs. The middle-order has been unpredictable and its repeated failures have been a cause of concern for not only Team India but also former India captain Diana Edulji who termed it as ‘Lazy’.

In the 2017 World Cup final, India had lost seven wickets for 28 runs to go down to England by nine runs, while in the recent tri-series final against Australia, they collapsed to 144 all out after being 115 for three at one stage while chasing 155.

"The middle order could definitely improve, there are some things we still have to figure out with our batting and we are trying hard to do that. The best way to support the middle order is for the top order to bat 20 overs. I think we need to try and bat long as a top-four. We must try not to get out in the 16th or 17th over and the problem will be sorted if we can stay until the 20th over." Smriti Mandhana was quoted as saying by Espn Cricinfo.

While India lost to Australia in the tri-series final, they had also defeated the hosts in a crucial league game, in which Mandhana scored 55 and young Shafali Verma blasted 49 from 28 balls to help the team chase down 177 losing just three wickets. Australia head coach Matthew Mott believes India has the most feared batting line-up at the T20 World Cup and Mandhana agrees that they have a balanced batting order.

"We can be very unpredictable on our day, but I'd like to agree (with Mott), we have some great batters and our order is very balanced. The top four or five are quite settled. We've had the same top five for the last year and that's been a good thing for us,” she added.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign with a clash against four-time champions Australia on February 21.