2nd T20I: India women hope to bounce back after opening defeat vs Eng

MUMBAI: Faced with a stern challenge against a dominant England, Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur seems to be in sync with new head coach Amol Muzumdar on the urgent need to improve the team’s fielding, which seemed well below par during the team’s 38-run defeat in the opening Women’s T20I at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night.
Seamer Pooja Vastrakar (long on) and debutant off-spinner Shreyanka Patil (caught and bowled) fumbled easy chances to allow England’s Natt Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt to run riot during their 138-run stand for the third wicket, which batted the Indians out of the game.

“Fielding is something we’ve been talking (about) for so many years and we want to improve (in this area). When we got together (on) the first day, everyone spoke about fielding. But the best part was that in the last game, we saw that everyone in the team was diving and throwing themselves (at the ball).

As a captain, I want our fielding side to be the best,” Harmanpreet said on the eve of the second T20I.
The hosts will be boosted by the fact that impressive young pacer Titas Sadhu, who starred in India’s triumph in the Asian Games final against Sri Lanka with superb figures of 4-1-6-3, is likely to be fit for the second T20I, after missing out on the first match due to an illness.

“She bowled in the nets. Hopefully, she’ll be fine,” Harmanpreet said.

While the second WPL auction, taking place concurrently about 21 kms away from the Wankhede Stadium, the match venue, could be a source of distraction for some of the English players, who could be bought for a decent price, their Indian counterparts, the captain said, are likely to be focused on the match, having been retained by their teams. “Almost all the girls are already in some team or the other, so I don’t think the auction is going to be a distraction for us,” Harmanpreet said.
Like the head coach, the skipper too stressed that every game from hereon was a step in building towards the T20 World Cup in September next year. It was with that India fielded two debutant spinners in Saika Ishaque and Patil, who went for 82 runs in their eight overs, while taking three wickets, in the first T20I, as England piled up 197 for six.

“The team which we picked for the last match is the one we want to build for the upcoming World Cup. Saika and Shreyanka did really well in the last game. They’re quite confident, and after the game we sat with them and discussed what best can they do in the upcoming game. They just need opportunities, and there are many now,” Harmanpreet said.
The Indian captain revealed that her big dream was to win the T20 World Cup.
“I want this team to grow and in a way that everyone says that this is the best team. For me winning a World Cup is a dream and I’m just working towards that and that is the only reason I requested BCCI to get a young team. These games are very important as England are not going to give us anything easily. So, we are learning to perform under pressure.”
How long a rope will the younger, inexperienced players get in the side, you wonder, considering that results do matter ultimately.
“When you play alongside someone, you get a fair idea from their body language as to how they approach cricket, want to play the game and what they can do for the team. But at the same time, there’s no surety for any athletes, just as there is none in life at large. That said, a lot depends on how you improve with each passing day and help win games for your team. Based on that, you try to assess how many chances the player deserves.”