GQEBERHA: Smriti Mandhana had just cleared her front leg to get on one knee and slog Cara Murray over midwicket for a six. It was her second consecutive fifty of the 2023 T20 World Cup, with this one against Ireland at the wind-swept beautiful St. George’s Park coming in 40 deliveries. Just like the one against England two days ago, there were no celebrations. She had a chat with her batting partner Harmanpreet Kaur and was back to her end. She knew that there was more to do. In the end, India managed to eke out a five-run win against Ireland on DLS after rain played havoc.
Mandhana’s innings was not a clean one. It was peppered with chances and was very much unlike Mandhana's. She was dropped thrice — once down the ground, twice in midwicket, but she kept going. She did not restrain herself from playing shots. There were her trademark shots through the covers and pulls. Her relentless intent stood apart. Every time she was dropped, she did not go for a single or play conservatively, instead, she went power-hitting. Later she did confess that windy conditions were not ideal for batting.
Immediately after her fifty, Mandhana went after Georgina Dempsey — a loft down the ground before making room to cream her through point for consecutive boundaries. One of the key things to note was how the southpaw used the strong wind that was blowing across the ground to her advantage. Every time she had a chance, Mandhana took a risk to ensure she hit her shots with the breeze. At one point, it felt like she had a chance to get to the triple figure — her first in T20Is — but in the end she perished for a 56-ball 87.
If Mandhana was timing the ball at one end, the other end wasn’t the same for India. There were too many dot balls too. Shafali Verma probably had one of her scratchiest innings in the T20 World Cups. She was searching for timing and gaps and hardly went for her go-to shots. The fact that she played 14 dot balls in her 29-ball 24 was telling. But it did not end there. Even skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who had promoted herself to No. 3, had another bad day at the office.
What seemed odd was that they were not even trying to rotate the strike. Kaur played 20 balls for just 13 runs with eight dot balls. Mandhana, too, had played 16 off them in the 56 balls she faced, but she was able to compensate. Richa Ghosh fell for a duck and so did Deepti Sharma. If not for Jemimah Rodrigues' late boundaries (12-ball 19) India might have found themselves well short of the 155/6 they scored.
“I thought I forgot how to bat,” laughed Mandhana in a chat with the broadcaster. "One of the toughest innings I would have played. Not the wicket but the pace they were bowling and with the wind, it had gotten worse than we thought. Not sure (laughs) if it was the perfect preparation, but it is always good to post a few runs and go into the semis," she said.
India might have ended up on the right side of the result but the fact that they played 41 dot balls in a T20I inning, kind of, summed up the way Mandhana and the rest of the batters played on Monday. And they know it is not an ideal way to get into a semifinal clash against Australia. “We did discuss in team meetings. Against England also we played too many dot balls. Things like that we are discussing, but when other teams bowl well and you score 150, you know, it is a par score and it is important that 150 should be on the board rather than taking too much pressure. We are just going there to understand what the par score is and play according to the situation. Dot ball is a worrying sign for us and next game, you will see some improvement,” said captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
In reply, Ireland were off to a horror start as they lost Amy Hunter to a run out and Orla Prendergast was castled by an angled-in delivery of Renuka Singh Thakur early on. Gaby Lewis (unbeaten 25-ball 32) took on the attack with some glorious drives batting alongside skipper Laura Delany. However, when they were 54/2 after 8.2 overs, the drizzle that had been blowing across the ground for a while became stronger, forcing the umpires to call off the play. Ireland, as it turned out, fell short of the DLS score by five runs.
Brief scores: India 155/6 in 20 ovs (Mandhana 87; Prendergast 2/22) bt Ireland 54/2 in 8.2 ovs (Lewis 32 n.o).