Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], October 21 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer Veda Krishnamurthy said that Team India will be under huge pressure to perform well at the inaugural ICC Women's Champions Trophy next year, noting that the last T20 World Cups have not gone in Women in Blue's favour.
Team India started their 'Smriti Mandhana era', sealing a 3-0 series win over Zimbabwe after beating them by 92 runs in the third T20I at Raipur on Tuesday. Team India will be eyeing the ICC Women's Champions Trophy, taking place in T20I format at home next year.
Speaking after the win over Zimbabwe, JioStar expert Veda said on 'Cricket Live', "You want to dominate when you're playing a series, and that's exactly what I think Team India as a whole have done. We talk about convincing victories, and the last two games were just that. In the first game, you would say they were pushed, but eventually, it was still a convincing victory. A strong finish is always important, and it's a good start to Smriti Mandhana's full-time captaincy career. It is important that you play a certain brand of cricket. India have clearly shown that this is exactly how they want to play. It is good preparation going into the Champions Trophy. Three T20 games are done, with three more left before the big tournament. The last two T20 World Cups have not gone in India's favour. So, there will be pressure on this Indian team to come out and perform well in the Champions Trophy."
Team India have registered back-to-back group stage finishes in the previous two T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026. Their best finish has been the runners-up finish in 2020, losing to Australia.
Speaking on former skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's free-flowing 91* in 41 balls, Veda said that despite not being the captain, she is still a key batter and it was important that she got runs. During her post-inning interview, Harmanpreet was visibly emotional and teary-eyed. To this, Veda said that Harmanpreet is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve.
"I think that is exactly what is expected of her (her knock). Even though she's not the captain now, she's still a key batter India would want to have in the line-up, especially with the upcoming Champions Trophy campaign in Indian conditions. Having the experience of someone like Harman is important, and it's important that she gets runs as well. So, it was good to see her back among the runs. There's a lot of passion when you're playing cricket, and passion also brings emotion. Certain players have a tendency not to show it, but Harman is someone who's shown those emotions in the past as well, whether it is on the field or during interviews. She is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve, someone who probably expresses a lot more than other players. Sometimes you cannot keep everything inside, and you feel good when you express yourself. Then you saw her on the field, smiling and laughing around. That is how Harman is," she said.
On improved consistency of Shafali Verma, who played a quick-fire knock of 69 runs, Veda said that consistency was always a talking point when it came to the youngster and there is probably a decade or more of cricket left in her, where she could smash a lot of records.
"Consistency was something that was always discussed around Shafali, and the way she has come back, she is starting to show a lot more of it across formats. She got out when she had 991 calendar runs in T20Is this year. We were hoping that she would get to a thousand, and you see the list, Laura Wolvaardt is behind her in second place, and Smriti Mandhana is in third position. The top three will be playing against each other in December. That series is going to be a good one. She is just 22 years old, but she has been here for a while. 2019 is when she made her debut. That is about seven years of international cricket, which is a lot of experience. I'm just looking at it and saying, probably another decade or even more than that of cricket is what we'll see from her, and the kind of records she's going to smash is going to be incredible to watch," she signed off.
Shafali is enjoying a run of her life in T20Is this year, with 991 runs in 27 innings at an average of 39.64 and a strike rate of almost 167, with a century and nine fifties, with a best score of 100*. She holds the record for most T20I runs by a woman in a calendar year and played several crucial knocks in India's Asia Cup and Asian Games title wins.
Coming to the match, fifties from Harmanpreet (91* in 41 balls, with 10 fours and five sixes) and Shafali (69 in 37 balls, with six fours and five sixes) powered India to 216/7. Nandani Sharma (3/24) was the star for India, restricting Zimbabwe to 124/7, despite knocks from Sharne Mayers (60 in 49 balls, with four boundaries and sixes) and Beloved Biza (44 in 50 balls, with five fours). (ANI)
"There will be pressure on India to perform well in ICC Women's Champions Trophy": Veda Krishnamurthy
