India got the much-needed win over Pakistan in the women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, but remained below their archrivals in Group A at the fifth position, separated by net run rate (NRR), which left former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar “a little disappointed”.
Chasing Pakistan’s below-par 105 for 8, India took 18.5 overs to complete the six-wicket win and ended up with an NRR of -1.217.Pakistan, who also have three points from a win and a loss in their two matches, are at number three with an NRR of +0.555.
Manjrekar felt India must be realising now that they could have been a little more aggressive in their run-chase.
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“A bittersweet win for India,” said Manjrekar while analysing the game on a post-match show on Star Sports.
He said that it’s table-topper New Zealand that India will have to catch.
“Winning is very important, but I am a little disappointed because if you see New Zealand’s run-rate, it’s +2.900, and that’s the team India need to catch up with. It will be difficult to catch Australia,” he said, kind of predicting that Australia will end up topping the group.
The Aussies, with two points and an NRR +1.908 after their win in the opener, are currently at number two. Sri Lanka at fifth spot with two consecutive defeats complete the Group A table.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was the only Indian batter who could score at a strike-rate of above 100.00. She made 29 off 24 balls before walking off retired hurt with a neck injury.
Opener Shafali Verma top-scored with 32 off 35 balls, while Jemimah Rodrigues contributed 23 off 28 balls.
“India did win, but inside Harmanpreet will be feeling that they should have scored a little more briskly and won in a quicker time. It would have benefitted in the long run,” Manjrekar analysed.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, opener Smriti Mandhana admitted that India’s start with the bat could have been better.
“We could have done with a better start with the bat,” said Mandhana, who scored only 7 in the match played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
“But we will take this. We were thinking about it (NRR) but Shafali and I weren’t able to time it (the shots) well. So we didn’t want to get to a place where we were chasing the game, but NRR is surely in our heads. This game will give us some momentum and hopefully we can keep going in this tournament,” the opening batter added.
About the nature of Harmanpreet’s injury, Mandhana said: “Too soon to say anything, the medics are looking at it. Hopefully she is alright.”