All-rounder Deepti Sharma starred in India Women’s 16-run win over Sri Lanka with a patiently built 78-run knock and then returned to bowl at crucial phases of the game. Part of India’s spin attack, she helped build the pressure on the opposition with clever bowling and finished with the wicket of Dilani Manodara.
Reflecting on her knock which was on the slower side, the top-order bat said, “I assessed the wicket when I went in to bat. It was a bit slow so then I played accordingly,” she mentioned.
While Deepti’s batting position had changed from opening to No. 3, so had Veda Krishnamurthy’s, who had replaced Mona Meshram in the XI for the match against SL. Jhulan Goswami was promoted up the order while the batter came in at No 7. Asked about the pressure to accelerate if the batters before her had played a lot of dot balls, Krishnamurthy said, “I wouldn’t say that the dot balls make a lot of difference because even if they had scored off them when I go in to bat, I still have to go and get those quick runs. Regardless of whether they have played more dot balls or less dot balls, my job is to get quick runs in the end.”
While the batters had posted a respectable score, the bowlers had plugged the flow of runs and built pressure that eventually helped India triumph. Speaking about the bowling and the role that the spinners had played in applying the brakes, Deepti said, “When I got the opportunity to bowl, I tried to contain by bowling dot balls and Poonam (Yadav) too did the same from the other end. I was told to just bowl dot balls, so that’s what we did.”
Speaking about the variations she used and the advice from Ekta Bisht, Deepti said, “Ekta had told us that the weather here is cool, and the wicket here turns day by day, sometimes it is slow, sometimes it turns and sometimes the ball goes on straight even when we try for turn. Today, the wicket was slow and there was a bit of turn in it so I bowled accordingly.
“I had made use of the crease and also bowled a bit from behind (the box); gave it flight, bowled quick and tried using different things,” she added. “When we bowl from behind the crease then the length (and so the distance to the batter) also extends a bit, so the batter also has to come out as she can’t get to the pitch of it easily.”
Fielding is an area that India is working to improve on and would be looking to get better, especially in the three crucial matches ahead. “There were missed chances and misfields but we are working towards getting better. Also, you can see that the seats are white (so sighting the ball might be an issue) and then there is also the wind factor and it keeps changing. So, there is also a lot of adjustment to be made and since it is a shorter format there is no particular position that you are standing in so you keep moving as well. It plays a lot on your mind as well but yes, we are working towards it,” Krishnamurthy said.
