India’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup captain, Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that playing too many dot balls is a problem that is already affecting the team ahead of a possible semi-final match against defending champions Australia. After using 51 dot balls in an 11-run defeat to England, India showed some improvement by using 41 dot balls in a rain-affected win over Ireland in their last Group B encounter at GKberha on Monday. India will understand that they cannot play so many dot balls against a team like Australia.
@mandhana_smritiA stormy innings of 87 runs in 56 balls helped #TeamIndia book your place in #Womens T20 World Cup Semifinals! Congratulations @BCCI Women On excellent performance! #INDWvsIREW pic.twitter.com/vW12NXCXrX— Jay Shah (@JayShah) February 20, 2023
“We discussed these things in the last meeting as well, against England also, we played too many dot balls. So, these kinds of things we have been discussing in the team meetings. But sometimes, when someone The other team is bowling very well, so end it.” On the day, when you score 150, these wickets are something which is a pass score for you. It is important that 150 be there apart from taking too much pressure on the board.”
“World Cup games are always something where both the teams are always under pressure. In these matches, if there is 150 on the board, you are always on the up side. We are not putting too much pressure on ourselves.”
“We are just going out there and understanding what the situation is out there and just playing according to the situation. And the dot ball is something that is worrying us already. And I think in the next match we will Would love to see some improvement in this.” field too,” he said at the post-match press conference.
When asked about the excitement of potentially playing in the semi-finals against Australia, Harmanpreet commented, “Whenever we play against Australia we always enjoy and it doesn’t matter if we play against them in the semi-finals or Play in any other tournament, we always want to give 100%.”
“Because whenever you do well against Australia, you always get good confidence. And it will be a very important game for both the teams. We just want to go and enjoy our cricket.”
India had lost 4-1 in the five-match T20I series against Australia in Mumbai last year, also playing a warm-up match ahead of the World Cup. Harmanpreet believes that playing against a champion team like Australia in a bilateral series was a confidence booster for her team.
“That series gave us a lot of confidence. The brand of cricket we played in that particular series was something that gave us a lot of confidence. And now we know them very well, we played five matches in a row and then a practice session. The game, we know their strengths, their weaknesses, we know what we have to do.”
“So, I think, when you play a bilateral series, it always gives you a lot of confidence and then the areas you have to improve on as a team. So, I think we have a fair idea That’s how we have to go about the next match and we plan accordingly and then go and play our cricket.”
Harmanpreet concluded by saying that if the semi-final clash between India and Australia is confirmed then there will be equal pressure on both.
“Our pressure will be equal because, our team has been doing well for many years and obviously, Australia have played very well in this tournament. They are unbeaten and have always done well. And when we get a chance to play against them It turns out our aim is to play good cricket.”
“Because when you play good cricket in front of a team like Australia, you get to learn a lot as a player and as a team you get a chance to do well in the future. So, I think This is a match that happens here.” The team that does well every moment is the one that moves forward.”
He said, “It’s not that a team is good, they will do well. We will just play our free cricket because whenever our team has played freely, we have always won big matches. So, our main aim is to be in good shape. Have to stay.” mindset, stay positive and back yourself.”