The bowlers took responsibility – Harmanpreet Kaur on India’s commanding win in Vizag

India-W dominated the proceedings as they secured a seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka-W in Vizag to go 2-0 up in the ongoing T20I series. The bowlers played an instrumental role as they restricted their counterparts to 128/9 while Shafali Verma blasted an unbeaten 69 to propel India to the finish line comfortably.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored 10 off 12 balls before Malki Madara sneaked through her defences. Despite missing out on controlling the narrative with her bat, she ensured that her captaincy was bang on point and that hurt Sri Lanka dearly in the second game as well.

Talking at the post-match presentation about India’s disciplined bowling, Kaur said, “Really happy with the way we bowled today. That was the reason we wanted to bowl first. The bowlers took responsibility and put us in a really strong position early on. Later, Shafali and the other batters finished things off beautifully. Everyone in our bowling unit understands their role and is stepping up. We know what Sneh brings to this team, Deepti has been doing it for a while, but very happy with the way we bowled overall.”

Kaur then shifted her focus to young Vaishnavi Sharma, stating, “We were all waiting for that (Vaishnavi's) maiden wicket. Even though in the last game there were a few missed chances, today she bowled a very crucial over and picked up two wickets.”

The Indian team witnessed a major revamp in their fielding as they latched onto the chances while enforcing three run-outs in the form of Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kaushani Nuthyangana and Kawya Kavindi. After being worried about India’s fielding in the last game, Kaur was all praise for the Women in Blue’s efforts in the park today.

Kaur concluded by stating, “As I mentioned in the last post-match chat, we’ve been working really hard on our fielding. We made mistakes previously, but today the girls did really well and I’m very happy with the improvement. Before coming here, we discussed setting certain standards for ourselves as a team, and everyone is committed to that. Whoever walks out to bat knows their role and is ready to take responsibility.”