Eight-day gap before T20 World Cup final hurt India Women, feels Mithali Raj

Eight-day gap before T20 World Cup final hurt India Women, feels Mithali Raj

no photo

|

Getty

Mithali Raj is of the opinion that the India Women were the ‘team to beat in the tournament’ but the long gap before the final hurt them in the recently concluded T20 World Cup. The India Women ODI captain also believes that the eves have a decent fielding side despite their poor show in the final.

After being undefeated in the group games of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, India Women were awarded a seat in the final despite the semifinal against England getting abandoned. According to Mithali Raj, had the India eves gotten a chance to play in the semifinal and won it, it would’ve given the team the correct momentum ahead of the final. Raj has defended Harmanpreet Kaur’s side, stating that they were the finalists with nothing to lose and it was the Australia Women who were actually under pressure on March 8.

“Having seven-eight days of no game time between their last league match and the final hurt India, I feel. If they had got a match in the semi-final and won it, it would have been the best way to reach the final. It would have given them a continuation of the momentum they had built so well from the group stage. Unfortunately, the semi-final was cut off because of the rain; that snapped India's momentum in the tournament,” Raj was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“Going into the final with the atmosphere at the MCG what it was, any team would have felt the pressure. Probably Australia were also under huge pressure because you are the host team and you are in the final with nearly 90,000 people watching you play India, a team that beat you comprehensively in the first game of the tournament. India didn't have anything to lose; they were the team to beat in the tournament, they should have been super confident, having won all the games in the group stage.”

The Women’s ODI captain also defended the T20I side’s fielding despite the fact that they failed terribly in the final. Both Harmanpreet Kaur and T20I vice-captain Smriti Mandhana had pointed it out that India need to be a better fielding side in the near future but Raj believes that they are pretty decent already. And the final’s dismal display was but a one-time mishap.

“I personally felt the Indian team did decently well through the World Cup in terms of fielding. In the final, yes, the dropped chances proved costly, but in cricket, when you put yourself in pressure situations, things you would otherwise do in an easy manner, you make them hard, and that is what I felt watching them play in the final. Otherwise, these girls are not bad fielders. India, in fact, were one of the better-catching sides,” Raj added.

“We have had a fielding coach since mid-2017 - Biju was there earlier and now we have a new coach [Subhadeep Ghosh] - and we have been gradually improving, and that's what we need to keep doing. It's just that our game sense, as I mentioned earlier, needs to complement our skills in pressure situations.”

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all