A good game for us – Harmanpreet Kaur on India’s winning start to Women’s Asia Cup

India got off to a rollicking start in the Women’s Asia Cup as they romped over Thailand in Dubai. Despite a solid start from Shafali Verma, who scored a magnificent half-century, the Indian middle-order had a major stutter. However, the bowlers took over the reins and sealed a solid win to give India a major NRR boost.

Indian captain, Harmanpreet Kaur opened up about the win at the post-match presentation. She also opened up on the batting collapse while heaping special praise on Shafali Verma for her defining half-century. Kaur had special praise reserved for Deepti Sharma who played her 150th T20I and became the third Indian woman to achieve this feat.

Reflecting on the win, Kaur said, “Definitely. It was a good start with the bat. I mean, when the ball was holding, we didn't play good shots. But overall, it was a good game for us.”

Explaining the stutter in the middle, Kaur added, “With the new ball, it was coming nicely onto the bat, but after that there was a bit of hold. And even as I mentioned, our batters, all of us, we didn't play good shots. But at the same time, I would like to give credit to the Thailand bowlers. They also tried to bowl in those areas where it was not easy to hit the ball.”

She also praised the Thailand bowlers, stating, “I've been telling that all the teams that are playing in the Asia Cup, they have shown a lot of improvement, and we always talk about this tournament as something where we can't take any team lightly, because we have seen a massive improvement.”

Kaur concluded by lauding Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma, adding, “Both of them are key players for us. Shafali is somebody who's playing well, good to see she's getting that rhythm in the batting and scoring those crucial runs for us. And Deepti is somebody who has got a lot of experience, a lot of wickets behind her, and today also she used her experience.”