Smriti defends batting approach, ‘winning was more important’

India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana defended her team’s ultra-defensive batting approach in a chase of 106 runs against Pakistan which might have greatly dented their chances of reaching the Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals.

India struggled to reach the winning target with only seven balls to spare and the entire innings had five boundaries compared to Pakistan’s eight. Shafali Varma played 35 balls for her 32 while Jemimah Rodrigues consumed 28 balls while reaching a painstaking 23.

“A better start with the bat would have been good, but we will take that win,” said Mandhana. “Me and Shafali could not time the ball. We didn’t want to end up losing a lot of wickets. We were a little calculative. The NRR is in our head,” she added.

She couldn’t provide a lot of update on Harmanpreet’s on-field injury that forced her to retire hurt. “Too soon to say anything. Medical team is looking at it. Hope it’s not too bad,” she said.

India face Sri Lanka next and Mandhana expects the team to put up a better show against the Asia Cup champions. “This game (against Pakistan) will give us the momentum,” she said.

Medium-pacer Arundhati Reddy said the team’s focus will be on boosting the net run rate. “We understand the net run rate is important but winning the game is more important. The wicket was playing a little slower. So, the main thing was to finish the game. But we’ve discussed about it (net run rate) and we’re looking forward to improving it in the next few games.”