India made it to the semifinals of ICC Women's T20 in style with a 52-run win over Ireland on Thursday.
India made it to the semifinals of ICC Women's T20 in style with a 52-run win over Ireland on Thursday. However, captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels that there is still room for improvement in her side.
Mithali Raj’s half-century guided India to 145/6 who then kept Ireland to 93/8 to confirm their semifinal spot.
After the win, Harmanpreet said that it was important for the players to start planning for their final Group game against Australia. She also underlined some areas where the Indian team could do better.
“I’m happy that we have qualified for the semis, but there are still a few things that we need to sit down and talk about. It’s a short format,” Kaur said.
“We have to be aggressive on the field, and improvements need to be made. We need to improve across the batting and bowling departments. We did not bat according to our plan today.”
India will be looking to improve their batting in the final overs of the innings. On Thursday, India managed just 36 runs from their final five overs and lost four wickets after the opening pair of Mithali and Smriti Mandhana had laid a solid foundation for them.
Harmanpreet was the star of India's win over Australia in the semifinal of last year’s World Cup. She had hammered 171 off 115 deliveries then. Kaur has having already scored one century in the current edition and would love add some more runs as India look to finish the group unbeaten.
“I’m looking quite confident (at the moment), but whatever has happened is history now and it’s a new day, a fresh day. I’m hoping if I get a start I can continue the same momentum.” Harmanpreet said.
“I really enjoyed that particular day, but now it’s in the past. This is a new game for us and I have to start from the very first ball.
One aspect in particular that Australia would be worried of is Kaur’s knack of hitting long sixes. New Zealand witnessed first-hand what Kaur’s power-hitting is capable of when the India captain tonked seven boundaries and eight sixes.
“After my training I like to hit long shots. It always gives me confidence when I get my first few boundaries, you feel like you can clear it after that. I like to hit big shots and my game is hard hitting,” she said.
Harmanpreet credits her stint with Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League, and feels they can go one up on their semi-final finish last year this time around. “I always enjoy when I play for the Thunder, “she said. “Last year we did really well and made the semis and hopefully this year we win. The WBBL has a really good standard, all the teams are very good … you never get a team where you can go and get easy runs.
“When you play with overseas players in these places you get a lot of confidence from them, you’re always learning something new and coming out of your comfort zone. When we (travel) as a team out of the country as it’s a different thing to playing alone with other overseas players. You learn a lot of things… and it’s really helped me.”
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