World Team TT C’ships: India women lose to China 2-3 in group 1 opener
At the World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals, each tie consists of a maximum of five singles matches. The first team to win three matches wins the tie.
India batswoman Shafali Verma, who on Thursday scored quickfire 46 off 34 balls against New Zealand, revealed that practising with the boys during the childhood days helped her in improving her game.
“I practised a lot with the boys and I want to thank my dad and all the boys at the practice who helped me train well in batting,” said Shafali after the match against Kiwis.
Riding on Shafali’s knock on Thursday, India inched past New Zealand by 3 runs in their nail-biting encounter at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020. The win saw the Women in Blue becoming the first team to advance to the semifinals of the ongoing mega event.
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“I was happy with the performance and wanted to give a good start at the powerplay. I waited for the loose balls which is my strength and it paid off today,” said Shafali.
Getting an invitation to bat first at Junction Oval in Melbourne, India scored 133 runs at the loss of 8 wickets in their allotted 20 overs and held their nerves to register a slender win of 3 runs.
Shafali gave India a blazing start but as soon as she fell to Amelia Kerr in the 14th over, India failed to capitalise the good start. Wickets fell in regular intervals for India and the players couldn’t stitch runs at a fast rate. However, the overall target was just good for the Women in Blue to book a semifinal berth at the ongoing biennial event.
Meanwhile, Shafali has become the player with highest T20I strike rate in women’s cricket. After 17 matches in the shortest format, she has a strike rate of 147.97.
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