A batting collapse chasing 274 against South Africa led to India’s first loss of the ICC Women’s World Cup, 2017.
While opener Lizelle Lee played a destructive knock, captain Dane van Niekerk scored a half-century to shift momentum is SA’s favour after being asked to bat. Explaining India’s decision to field, Shikha Pandey, who had created the first breakthrough with just one run on the board said, “When we have played South Africa before, during the Quadrangular also, we have chased. While chasing 269 runs against them, we lost by eight runs. Our batters were confident that we can chase. (Also) Going by the records of the matches played on this ground, we thought we would be able to chase. The teams chasing were winning so we went by that.”
Discussing Lee’s knock, Pandey said, “All her shots were going well. With the kind of bat swing that she had, she was clearing the fence. Even though we got the first wicket in the second over itself, we were on the backfoot (given) the way she was going on. It was not just about getting boundaries, she was consistently clearing them. Good balls going for sixes was a concern. So, we tried to slow the game, but it was her day. (Also) the outfield lightning quick.”
Although Deepti Sharma (60 off 111) put up a fight along with a gritty Jhulan Goswami (43*) India were bowled out for 158 with 24 balls to spare. Speaking about the middle-order collapse, Pandey said, “Our main batters (Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur) got out in the same over. That really did it for us. But the way Jhulu played down the order I thought that brought us in. There was some really bad shot selection. We need to apply ourselves better. The wicket was the same for both teams. So, the two wickets in that one over by the SA captain that really hurt us.”
Speaking about the remaining two league games against Australia and New Zealand, the results of which will be crucial to qualify for the semis, Pandey said, “We can just take the positives out of this, and work on things we can work on. What we can do best is what we will do.
“Our batting has been good. (However) None of the top-order bats except for Deepti scored much (in this game). We need to pull ourselves back from this defeat and probably the best cricket that we can play will come against the best team,” she said while speaking about the upcoming game.
Speaking about her own performance (3/40) after returning to the side, Pandey said, “The kind of competition that is there, you have to grab your spot in the team every opportunity that you get. Probably that day I didn’t bowl well so I sat out. Today, was a day I could have come back and taken more wickets, (but) just ended up with three. It feels good, we will carry the confidence into the next game.
“The next two games are there to show that we can get back, fight back and then get our way through,” Pandey said while talking about the forthcoming matches that will keep India in the race for a place in the semi-finals.
