Rampant India first to seal semi-final spot Shikha’s dreams take flight at World Cup Down Under
Shafali shines with the bat before bowlers defend 133 against New Zealand
MELBOURNE: Teenage prodigy Shafali Verma helped India earn a nail-biting win over New Zealand on Thursday and reach the women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals, as defending champions Australia inched closer to joining them.
New Zealand won the toss at Melbourne’s Junction Oval and opted to bowl, restricting India to 133/6 after 16-year-old Verma gave them a strong start with three sixes and four fours in a quickfire 46.
But New Zealand failed with the bat, narrowly missing their target despite a swashbuckling late charge by Amelia Kerr, leaving them on 129/6.
“It’s a great feeling when your team performs day in and day out,” said skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, after India became the first team into the last four. “But we still made the same mistakes after a good first 10 overs—we got a good start but couldn’t carry the momentum. We can’t make silly mistakes with harder games coming up.”
After opening their campaign by upsetting four-time champions Australia, India beat Bangladesh, and their New Zealand victory made it three from three to ensure a semi-final berth for the second successive tournament.
They still need to play Sri Lanka in Group B, with the top two from each of the two fiveteam groups qualifying for the knockout phase.
Two-time finalists New Zealand have one win from their two games, with Australia two from three after crushing Bangladesh in Canberra by 86 runs, with Alyssa Healy cracking 83 and Beth Moody 81 in an imposing 189/1—the highest total of the World Cup so far.
New Zealand play Bangladesh next and should they win will set up a crunch clash against Australia on Monday to determine who joins India in the semi-finals from their side of the draw.
‘CAN’T SULK ABOUT IT’
“I thought we did a fantastic job to restrict them after Shafali’s start. We adapted to the conditions, adjusted our lines and lengths, tied them down,” New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said.
“The way the team nearly closed out the game was fantastic, Amelia Kerr did a fantastic job to nearly win it for us in the end. We certainly can’t dwell on this or sulk about it for too long,” Devine added.
India started solidly before Smriti Mandhana dragged a Lea Tahuhu delivery onto her stumps.
Undeterred, the dynamic Verma clicked into gear and clubbed two big sixes in a row to get the scoreboard moving. Rosemary Mair snapped a dangerous 51-run partnership with Taniya Bhatia (23) and Jemimah Rodrigues fell for 10.
Verma rode her luck at the other end, surviving dropped chances on 26 and 32, and looked destined for a half-century before holing out to Hayley Jenson near the boundary rope.
“We are ruing those missed opportunities in the field,” said Katey Martin, who put on a 43-run partnership with Maddy Green to keep New Zealand in the game.
“We batted really well in the end to get us so close. There are some tough chances, but we really need to be taking those. We’ve been making big strides in our fielding and it’s something we normally pride ourselves on.
“We put a big focus on getting off the boundary rope. We will continue to do the work we’ve been doing and hopefully some of those chances will begin to stick and go our way.
“We now have a must-win match against Australia in our last game, but before then we’d rather be in a position where we have an opportunity to go through or not. We’re fully focused on our next game against Bangladesh.”
Rachel Priest smacked two boundaries off the opening over in the run chase but she was gone by the second.
Suzie Bates, the highest runscorer in T20 World Cup history, soon followed, attempting a paddle sweep. When Devine, who had made 50 or more in her last six T20IS, mishit a Poonam Yadav delivery and was caught for 14 New Zealand were in trouble.
With 40 needed from the last three overs Kerr (34) rose to the challenge with a Shikha Pandey yorker preventing the six she needed off the last ball to win. Young Verma was adjudged the player of the match for scoring a 34-ball 46 and the 16-yearold was elated with her performance.
“Feeling good, very happy with the performance, want to continue doing this. I waited for the loose balls and converted those,” said Shafali.
“In the last 12 to 14 months, we have improved a lot as a unit. We’re in a really positive position. We’ve been playing well ever since the tri-series. I think we’ve got a lot better as a team in working out how to handle and read situations well,” India’s wicket-keeper batsman Bhatia said at the post-match press conference.
“The results are in our favour, but we need to keep up the momentum. If we do that, we will do well and hopefully we can win the final,” Bhatia added.
AUSTRALIA WIN
In Canberra, Healy and Moody put on 151 for the opening wicket against a hapless Bangladesh, who were guilty of fielding blunders, with numerous chances dropped.
Fargana Hoque scored 36 for Bangladesh but they were never in the run chase with Megan Schutt taking three wickets in their 103 for nine.
“We just had really clear plans in our heads as to what we were going to do,” said Healy. “It didn’t feel easy batting out there, but we put up a good total.”
CHANDIGARH: When Harmanpreet Kaur tossed the ball at Shikha Pandey for the last over against New Zealand, India watched with bated breath. Needing 16 to win off the last over, New Zealand took the chase down to the wire when Shikha bowled that yorker at Amelia Kerr. At Goa’s Panjim, Shikha’s family was glued to the TV, praying. And they erupted when she bowled the final ball.
“She had called before the game and said how she wants to win the match for India. It was so thrilling to see Shikha bowl,” said her father Subas Pandey, a retired school teacher who shifted to Goa from Karimnagar, Telengana in 1997. Shikha’s love for the sport grew in Goa but it was mostly confined to gully cricket till she entered her teens.
“I was always very strict when it came to education. She took to proper training when she turned a teenager. I told her to be disciplined and achieve a professional degree first and only then can she pursue her dream of playing for India,” said Subas.
“The way she bowls in the death overs is remarkable. She bowls off-cutters and inswinging yorkers,” said pacer Mansi Joshi, who has shared the new ball with Shikha for India.
“Coach Subroto Banerjee has been of great assistance. She worked hard on her yorkers and other variations with him,” added Subas.
Jhulan Goswami, who shared the new ball with Shikha in many matches, vouches for her discipline as well.
“Once I roomed with her and was scared to watch television or speak on the phone. She would go to sleep at 9:30pm, finish her dinner at 7:30pm, wake up at 7am. I told her, ‘Shikha, you are such a nice girl but I would rather room with someone else. I can’t be this disciplined,” said Goswami from Kolkata.
Shikha ventured into cricket only after keeping her promise. She got an engineering degree and joined the Air Force in 2012 where she underwent training to be a flying ATC officer, and is now posted at the Palam Airport in New Delhi. It was finally in 2014 that Shikha made her Test, ODI and T20 debuts for India.
This T20 World Cup has come with its share of challenges. Shikha knew her role would be crucial in the absence of the experienced Goswami. With mediumpacers Arundhati Reddy and Pooja Vastrakar still learning the ropes, Pandey has more or less been the go-to bowler in pressure situations.
But Goswami always knew ‘Shikhu’ would be up to the task. “She would spot her own errors and that is why she has come this far. She is now the leading medium-pacer and mind it, she was not there in the last World T20. She has worked her way back into the team and how!”
(with inputs from Dhiman Sarkar)