Raipur, Oct 16 (IANS) India captain Smriti Mandhana admitted her side did not play the way it wanted in the first T20I against Zimbabwe, but was happy to begin her full-time captaincy with a four-wicket victory here on Friday.
India were reduced to 19/4 in the chase of 115 before Deepti Sharma (49) and debutant Niki Prasad (39 not out) shared an 82-run stand to see them home with 26 balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series. The second T20I will be played here on Sunday.
“Process-wise, we might not have played the exact way we wanted as a team, but a win is a win. We have a few standout performances to appreciate: Nandni Sharma bowled extremely well, Niki Prasad showed remarkable composure on her debut, and Deepti Sharma, well, she’s been doing this for a very long time.
“She’s a true legend of the game. We’re really happy to get the win, but there are definitely plenty of takeaways and areas for us to work on as a group,” Mandhana said after the match ended.
Asked about the issues she wanted to fix first as captain, Smriti said those conversations had already taken place in the changing room. “I’ve actually already addressed those points in the dressing room! Once we get going, people will start seeing the results in due time for sure.
“I wouldn’t really want to disclose those specifics right now, but we’ve definitely had conversations around them. On a positive note, I thought our intensity on the field today, especially with Smriti and Niki throwing themselves around, was a massive plus for us.”
Smriti further admitted facing an unfamiliar side posed its own challenges, though India adapted well with slower balls at the death overs. “Credit to Zimbabwe, their batters definitely played some quality cricketing shots out there. Playing against an unknown opposition can be tricky because you don’t fully know what to expect.
“But I thought the way we adapted towards the back end by using slower variations worked really well for us. We did prepare and plan against them beforehand, but watching video footage and facing them live are two completely different things.”
Speaking about Deepti’s knock, Smriti said the all-rounder’s intent made all the difference. “She played brilliantly. The way she took the attack to the bowlers meant she never allowed them to settle or dominate. Watching her bat with that intent gave me a lot of confidence to play my own shots at the other end.”
Zimbabwe captain Josephine Nkomo was proud of her bowlers for rattling the hosts early. “I was very impressed by our bowling and our fighting spirit to have India 19/4 in the powerplay. I’ll take that any day.”
She said the bowlers’ plan had been straightforward. “I think we just kept everything simple, just started bowling a good line and length, and then just backed ourselves with the (fielding) as well.”
Josephine, however, felt her batters needed to rotate the strike better after Zimbabwe played out 67 dot balls in their 114/5. “I think we just need to work on our dot ball percentage. We had quite a lot of dot balls, so if we just convert those into more singles and twos, I think we’ll be good to go.”
–IANS
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