Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur praises India's fielding in 1st T20I
Jan 05, 2024
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 5 : India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur hailed the players for producing a remarkable performance on the field during their 9-wicket win over Australia on Friday.
India's fielding woes were on display during their recently concluded ODI series against Australia where they ended up losing the series by 3-0.
Throughout the series, India dropped a good amount of chances, especially in the second game where they squandered seven catches that fell their way.
But today, India levelled up their game and produced a clinical performance. Even though they ended up dropping two catches, the overall effort on the field was a sight to behold. Harmanpreet set the example by claiming four catches in the game.
"We were upto the mark in all 3 departments. Fielding is something we are really working hard on. Today, everyone is enjoying their fielding and really happy to see that. Credit goes to our fielding coach, he picked Jemi to slot at backward point and everyone knows their plan in the fielding and we got the results we wanted as well. I just kept telling my bowlers to keep working hard and keep it tight. Credit to our head coach, we were about to pick a third spinner but in the last moment we decided to go with the extra seamer and we backed her (Titas Sadhu) and got the results as well. The way our bowling unit bowled today was superb, we would love to repeat this performance in the next game as well," Harmanpreet said after the match.
Coming to the match, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma played a near-flawless innings as their 137-run opening stand helped India chase down the target with 15 balls to spare at the DY Patil Sports Academy here. With this victory, India went 1-0 up in the three-match series.
While chasing a target of 142, Smriti and Shafali neutralized the threat carried by Australian pacers Megan Schutt and Annabel Sutherland in the powerplay.
The steadfast batters paced their innings according to each delivery and sent the bad ones away for a boundary.
Both teams will square off in the second T20I on Sunday at the DY Patil Sports Academy.
