Women's T20 Challenge: Trailblazers' Mandhana feels need of rebuilding team's batting line-up
May 24, 2022
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], May 24 : After facing a defeat in the season opener against Supernovas, Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana said that her team need to work on the batting line-up.
Clinical knocks by batters and a four-wicket haul by Pooja Vastrakar guided Supernovas to a 49-run win against Trailblazers in the opening match of the Women's T20 Challenge here at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Monday.
"Definitely not the result we wanted, we did well to restrict them to 160, on the batting we were on course to chase it but lost too many wickets, that's something we need to work on. We were at par with them till the 9th over, but lost track. We need to take more singles and doubles, that is something that is underrated," said Mandhana in a post-match presentation.
"I told the bowlers the wicket is good and the outfield is quick, so the message was they shouldn't panic even if they go for runs. We need to think about the batting line-up, with the rest we will come back stronger in the next game," she added.
Chasing 164, Mandhana scored 34 runs and stitched a 39-run partnership with Hayley Matthews. Their duo was broken by Pooja Vastrakar, who went on to scalp two more wickets and help her side restrict Trailblazers at 114/9.
Earlier in the day, Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored for Supernovas with a knock of 37 while Harleen Deol played quick innings of 35 off 19 balls. Openers Deandra Dottin and Priya Punia also played good knocks of 32 and 22 respectively.
For Trailblazers, Hayley Matthews scalped three wickets while Salma Khatun bagged two. While Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Poonam Yadav took one apiece.
Supernovas will now be going up against Velocity for their next clash on Tuesday while Triblazers will be facing the same opponent on Thursday.
