Leeds: India will aim to put an improved performance with the bat when they face Netherlands in their second group game of the Women’s T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Smriti Mandhana at the top and Richa Ghosh in the lower order made the difference with the bat in the opener against Pakistan.
The rest of the batting line-up, including opener Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur, could not come to the party.
Bharti Fulmali plays a crucial role in the middle-order but she had a forgettable first outing in the ICC event.
More consistency is needed from the Indian batters for the tougher battles ahead in the league stage.
The Netherlands game should be cakewalk but India would need to beat either Australia or South Africa in the league stage to qualify for the semifinals.
The fielding against Pakistan was not up to the mark, to start with, but some good catches were taken later in the innings.
Both the pacers, Arundhati Reddy and Kranti Gaud, were not able to make an impact. They both would be looking for early breakthroughs at Headingley.
The spin duo of Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani shared eight wickets amongst themselves with the former picking up a five-wicket haul. It was important for Deepti to strike form having gone for runs in the series leading up to the T20 showpiece.
Charani has been impressive in her blossoming international career, troubling the best batters with her guile and flight.
Netherlands, on the other hand, come into the game following a loss to Bangladesh.
They would need improvement in all departments to challenge India.
“I think in all three aspects of the game, it wasn’t quite the fire we hoped for. With the bat, I think we were a few runs short. We never really got going. We lost a bit too many wickets on the way.
“I think in the field as well, Bangladesh got off to a flier. The fielding, we dropped a few catches in the innings. So I think a lot to learn, a lot to improve from a great experience overall,” said captain Babette de Leede after the opening loss.
Squads:
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Netherlands: Babette de Leede (c), Caroline de Lange, Frédérique Overdijk, Hannah Landheer, Heather Siegers, Iris Zwilling, Isabel van der Woning, Lara Leemhuis, Myrthe van den Raad, Phebe Molkenboer, Robine Rijke, Rosalie Lawrence, Sanya Khurana, Silver Siegers, Sterre Kalis.
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Shree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Nandani Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav.
Match starts 7 PM IST.
