In the final of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, which had India winning by six wickets against Pakistan, captain Harmanpreet Kaur was visibly shaken when she lost her balance and injured her neck with only a few moments left in the game and therefore, she did not return back to play. Smriti Mandhana, who replaced Harmanpreet as vice-captain, said in the presentation that the neck of the Indian skipper is being examined by the medical staff. “Too soon to say anything, the medics are looking at it. Hopefully she is alright,” said Smriti.
After restricting Pakistan to 105/8, thanks to Arundhati Reddy’s career-best figures of 3-19, the Indians were believed to easily finish the game, especially since they were keen on improving their net run rate which had considerably suffered from a 58-run loss to New Zealand.
Except with Pakistan being composed in their bowling, India could score only 25/1 in power-play and never looked in a hurry to take any risks in order to finish the chase quicker. Shafali Verma (32), Jemimah Rodrigues (23) and Harmanpreet Kaur (29) ensured India’s chase, which saw only four boundaries being scored, was achieved with seven balls to spare.
Smriti confessed that there was a possibility of India approaching the chase differently than they did as their net run rate currently stands at -1.217. “We have been very disciplined, following the plans. In the field we were very good. A better start with the bat would have been good, but we will take this win.”
“We did think about it (boosting the net run rate), but me and Shafali could not time the ball. So we didn’t want to get to a place where we were chasing the game, but NRR is surely in our heads. This game will give us some momentum and hopefully we can keep going in this tournament.”
Arundhati, the Player of the Match, expressed, “I went into the match specifically to bowl at the stumps.” “I have been bowling with the new ball, and one had to expect the powerplay. We had a good powerplay and Renuka bowed well too. T20 bowling is not the only development I have worked on, it is in every stage of a game.
”So now I’ll keep my head down and work even harder. It was a day game and it was quite warm, but we are accustomed to this climate. I just wanted to be aggressive, hit the stumps more and work on my variations, as well as the slower ones. That has been working for me.”
Fatima Sana, the Pakistan captain, admitted the team did not perform well while batting. “Weren’t up to the mark with batting. I think we were at least 10-15 runs short. Hopefully, in the next match we can do well. It was fun playing against the Indians, I enjoyed my time here.”
