It is always good to have game time under your belt – Smriti Mandhana

The Indian women’s cricket team registered a comprehensive win over Nepal in their third Asia Cup clash to book their semi-final ticket. In the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana took over the reins as the skipper of the side and was happy to see the Women in Blue shine brighter than ever.

Mandhana didn’t bat in this encounter as she allowed Dayalan Hemalatha take centerstage alongside a freewheeling Shafali Verma, who won the Player of the Match award for her reckoning performance. Talking at the post-match presentation, Mandhana highlighted the course of the game, while pinpointing the factors that proved to be the gamechanger.

Smriti said, “As an opener you don't get a lot of games where you don't bat. Much needed game time for all the other batters. The middle order hasn't batted in the previous games. The conditions were different and it is always good to have game time under your belt. The middle order didn't get time in the South Africa series as well, so good they could spend some time in the middle.”

She further added, “The preparations started post WPL, there are a lot of fine tuning to be done and we have to keep improving, cannot go into a World Cup under prepared. They (Nepal) always had a smile on their face, sometimes with the amount of cricket we play we forget to enjoy the game, they played some good cricket and hopefully they keep improving and we get to play them often. You don't take any team (semifinal opponents) lightly, we have two days to rest and practice before we go out and apply ourselves.”