In their second group match of the Women’s T20 World Cup at Headingley in Leeds on Wednesday, India would want to improve their batting performance against the Netherlands.
In the first game against Pakistan, Smriti Mandhana at the top and Richa Ghosh in the lower order made the difference with the bat. Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Shafali Verma, along with the rest of the batting lineup, didn’t come good with the bat.
Although Bharti Fulmali is an important member of the middle order, her debut appearance at the ICC event was forgettable. For the more difficult matches that lie ahead in the league stage, Indian batters must be more consistent.
India would need to defeat either South Africa or Australia in the league round to go to the semifinals, but the Netherlands match should be relatively easy.
Initially, the fielding against Pakistan was subpar, but later in the innings, some excellent catches were taken. Arundhati Reddy and Kranti Gaud, the pacers, both failed to make an impact. At Headingley, they would both be searching for early breakthroughs.
Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani, two spinners, took eight wickets between them, with the former taking five. After going for runs in the series before the T20 extravaganza, Deepti needed to get back on track. In her blossoming international career, Charani has been excellent, using her guile and flight to trouble the greatest batters.
Conversely, the Netherlands enter the match having lost to Bangladesh. To compete with India, they would need to make improvements in every area.
Teams (from):
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
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
