We just had a plan to keep wickets in hand – Yastika Bhatia

The Indian women had a major conundrum at their number three position in the batting order as they experimented heavily, and chasing 233 against New Zealand in the final ODI of the 3-match series, they promoted Yastika Bhatia to take charge.

With Shafali Verma dismissed for just 12, Bhatia had work to do. She combined well with Smriti Mandhana, providing her the much needed support while scoring 35 runs from 49 balls to stabilize the Indian ship after the early jolt.

Talking in an interview after the game against New Zealand, Bhatia explained her resilient innings in detail, also revealing the plans that followed before and after. She also shed some light on the situations that preceded and the exact tricks that were deployed to brave them.

Yastika said, “There is always pressure when you play for the country. Our communication was to take some time, when you stay on the wicket, the runs will come. I wanted to play my shots but at the same time didn’t want to lose my wicket.”

Also emphasizing a bit on their preparations for the future circumstance in the game, Bhatia underlined, “We just had a plan to keep wickets in hand, we knew that dew might also come and as we go deep, we had a good chance to win.”

She concluded by saying, “Initially when we were bowling it was turning, when we were batting there wasn’t that much turn so it eased out a bit. I have put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes and am grateful it has come good.”