Gqeberha (South Africa), Feb 21: Captain Harmanpreet Kaur has conceded that India’s inability to rotate strike is a “worrying” sign, adding that the team has been discussing how to address its long-standing dot-ball issue ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals.
India qualified for the semi-finals of the marquee event after a five-run win over Ireland via the Duckworth-Lewis method on Monday.
However, rotation of strike remains a huge issue for the Indian team.
The ‘Women in Blue’ struggled with strike rotation in the series against Australia in December and even in the Tri-series that ended earlier this month.
The problem has persisted as India consumed 51 and 41 dot balls in the Group 2 games against England and Ireland respectively.
“Dot balls are something which (are) already worrying us,” Kaur said at the post-match press conference.
“In the next game, we would love to see some improvement in that area also. Against England, we played too many dot balls. Things like that we have already been discussing in team meetings.
“But sometimes, when the other team is bowling too well, at the end of the day, these wickets are something when you score 150, that’s a par score for you,” India’s skipper and star batter Kaur said.
Against Ireland, the Indian batters struggled to get the runs flowing.
India were going at less than seven runs per over before opener Smriti Mandhana, who was dropped as many as four times, found her groove in the latter half of the innings.
“World Cup games are always something where both the teams are always under pressure. I think these matches, if 150 is on the board, you always (have) the upper hand.
“We are not putting too much pressure on ourselves. We are just going there and understanding what conditions are there and just playing according to the situation,” Kaur said.
Playing her 150th T20 International, Kaur promoted herself to number three but was not able to strike the ball, eventually departing for 13.
India are likely to face five-time winners and favourites Australia in the semi-finals on Thursday, February 23.
“At end of the day, when you win, you feel satisfied but I think a few areas, especially in batting, we want to sit and discuss how we have to go in the next game,” the Indian captain expressed. (PTI)
