Dubai . In the buildup to the Women's T20 World Cup, many people, including Indian players, talked about how this was the best team ever to play in any edition of the tournament, covering all the bases. But pretournament favorites Harmanpreet Kaur and her team made a poor start with a disappointing performance in all aspects in Group A and suffered a heavy 58run defeat to New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday.
After the match, a disappointed Harmanpreet said, “We did not play our best cricket. We know that every match is important to move forward. We created chances but we could not take advantage of those chances. They played better cricket than us, There's no doubt about it. (In) fielding we made some mistakes, so it's a learning for us moving forward.”
Harmanpreet said, “We have chased the target of 160170 many times, we were expecting this score to be on the board. While batting, we knew that one of us would have to bat, but we were losing wickets continuously. “We kept losing. We know this group is capable of performing better, it wasn't the start we were expecting, but we have to move forward from here.”
For New Zealand, there could not have been a better way to break their tenmatch losing streak in this format than with a win over a sluggish Indian team.
Captain Sophie Devine closed out New Zealand's innings with an unbeaten 57 off 36 balls after a 67run opening partnership between Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer took them to a challenging 1604 on a sticky pitch. “I thought Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer set the tempo early in the innings. Me and Mellie (Amelia Kerr) were probably a little slow in overs 712, but we were able to work hard in the end.”
Sophie said after receiving the player of the match award, “It was very difficult work, the pace was low and trying to find the gaps. Felt a bit uncomfortable in the beginning. Really happy to contribute. We have worked hard in the last six months.” I have worked very hard, it is good to see the team getting its reward.
Aided by the cool evening breeze in Dubai, fast bowler Rosemary Mair took 419, while fast bowler Lee Tahuhu took 315 and offspinner Eden Carson opened the match by dismissing the Indian openers in the first four overs.
“I'm really proud of this group. People are talking about our recent results, playing against a worldclass team like India, performing like that, I'm overwhelmed. We've been targeting this game for a long time “To get on the field and score a marker (is great), but we still have a long way to go in the tournament.” “We got some good starts in the powerplay from Georgia and Suzy. They showed great intent. Then it was really important to finish the innings, Brooke Halliday and Maddy Green played brilliantly. We were probably going to go 10 overs, but we knew That's how strong their lineup is. We talked to the batsmen about playing their toughest shots and the bowlers performed really well.
India don't have much time – just one day's rest before taking the field against Pakistan on Sunday afternoon. New Zealand, on the other hand, have a few days to spare before facing defending champions Australia on October 8.
“We know them very well. Always a big challenge, to be able to play in these conditions levels the playing field a bit. We will play with a lot of confidence, these are the matches you want to play. We are eager to get involved.
—
– .
Image Credit: KhasKhabar.