“I was expecting it [series win] in the last [third T20I at The Oval] game, after the first two victories. Unfortunately, we missed out. I think this is a good victory. The girls are playing well,” Edulji told mid-day on Thursday
Diana Edulji
Former India captain Diana Edulji has congratulated the Harmanpreet Kaur-led women’s cricket, who beat England at Manchester in Game 4 of the five-match contest on Wednesday, to register a historic maiden T20I series win. The best wishes, however, are accompanied with some invaluable advice from the cricketing stalwart.
“I was expecting it [series win] in the last [third T20I at The Oval] game, after the first two victories. Unfortunately, we missed out. I think this is a good victory. The girls are playing well,” Edulji told mid-day on Thursday.
“Their fielding has definitely improved, which is a good sign. This means that they are working on their fitness. But, I still feel the running between the wickets needs to be better. We need to convert ones into twos. Also, if we can bring the dot balls down, that will help a lot,” added Edulji, 69, who represented the country in 20 Tests and 34 ODIs between 1976 and 1993.
Considering India and Sri Lanka will be hosting the 50-over World Cup in September-October this year and England will play hosts for the T20 World Cup in June-July next year, Edulji specified some areas of improvement that will help the team do well at these two prestigious competitions. “These two [ODI and T20I] World Cups are very, very important for us. The Indian players need to give a little more importance to game awareness. They must learn how to cross the finish line. We somehow tend to reach the end, but are unable to finish it. They should identify if this is a mental block or whether there is panic,” explained Edulji.
Riding on opener Smriti Mandhana’s 62-ball 112 and left-arm spinner Shree Charani’s 4-12, the visitors outclassed the hosts in the series opener at Nottingham by 97 runs. Then Jemimah Rodrigues’s 63 and pace-bowling all-rounder Amanjot Kaur’s unbeaten 63 helped India win the second T20I by 24 runs at Bristol. In the third game, despite an 85-run opening stand between Mandhana (56) and Shafali Verma (47), England emerged victorious by five runs. In Game 4, left-arm spinners Radha Yadav (2-15) and Charani (2-30) helped India win by six wickets. The last T20I will be played at Birmingham on Saturday.
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