On Sunday, October 9, at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai, Smriti Mandhana shared an injury update on Harmanpreet Kaur after India beat the West Indies by 49 runs in the first match of the three-match T20I series.
Mandhana said that the regular captain is currently being looked after by the Indian medical team.
“She is doing fine. She is being taken care of by the medical team and hopefully will be okay soon,” stated Smriti, the stand-in captain, at the post-match press interaction.
Asked to take bat first, Smriti and Jemimah Rodrigues hit fifties to guide India to a commanding 195 for four.
Mandhana hit two sixes and seven fours during her 33-ball 54, her 28th fifty in the T20I format to give India a brisk start.
After Smriti departed, Jemimah maintained the momentum to score the highest for India with her 35-ball 73 (9×4, 2×6).
She said that Jemimah was timing the ball well and she had the best seat in the house to see her ball striking, adding that they should have gone over 200 and would be aiming for that in the future.
“Uma came in and got us off to a good start, Jemi came in and continued that,” Mandhana said.
“Even after winning we have to go back and review where we can be better; yes, we could have got 200 today,” she added.
Chasing a target of 195 runs to win, Deandra Dottin (52) in company with Qiana Joseph (49) kept the West Indies team alive in the chase before being restricted to 146 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs. India had their share of wicket-takers in Titas Sadhu, with 3/37; Deepti Sharma, with her 2/21; and Radha Yadav, with 2/28.
The Mandhana went and credited bowlers for the victory and added that Sajana S was their sixth bowling option but all the five regular bowlers did their job perfectly and she wasn’t needed
“Credit goes to the bowlers with such dew around,” Mandhana said
“We had Sajana, she was our 6th bowling option but our first five bowlers did a good job. She (Sajana) has been bowling really well in the domestic games as well, we definitely have the extra option,” she added.
