England captain keeps selection doors open ahead of T20 World Cup
The English summer begins with the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Saturday, giving domestic players the chance to play themselves into the plans for the T20 World Cup squad.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur praised her bowlers, especially the young ones, for setting up her team’s seven-wicket win over hosts Bangladesh in the series opening T20 match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium here on Sunday.
The Indian bowlers came up with a superb effort, bowling great lines and lengths to restrict Bangladesh to a paltry 114/5 in their 20 overs. In reply, skipper Harmanpreet struck an unbeaten 54 off 35 balls while Smriti Mandhana scored a 34-ball 38 to reach 118/3 in 16.2 overs to make a winning start in the series.
Harmanpreet, who was declared player of the match, said debutant youngsters Minnu Mani and Bareddy Anusha responded well to the challenge.
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“It was a great team effort. The bowlers, especially the young girls, bowled really well. I wanted to see how they are going to bowl in the first six overs, I think both of them understood the conditions very early. Apart from them, Deepti (Sharma) too bowled well. She has an experienced bowler and she showed that today,” said Harmanpreet Kaur during the post-match presentation.
Asked about the experienced batter Smriti Mandhana’s effort, Harman said she always gives her 100%.
“She is always ready to give her 100% for the team and she showed her character today as well. When you have batters like Smriti and Shafali (Verma), you need not worry too much. We wanted to finish four-five overs early and I am really happy we were able to do that,” said Harmanpreet.
All-rounder Deepti Sharma said it was nice to start the series on a winning note.
“Obviously, it feels good that we started things on a positive note. We did well as a team and we will attempt to continue in the same vein in the remaining matches,” said Deepti in the post-match press conference.
Asked whether it was an easy win once they restricted Bangladesh to 114, Deepti said, “You can’t say it was easy because the wicket was a bit slow. We played according to the conditions and our batting unit covered it well.”
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