Team India recorded their biggest-ever victory at home by margin of runs, defeating Zimbabwe by 92 runs in the third and final T20I to seal a 3-0 series win. Veda Krishnamurthy discussed India’s dominant series win, Harmanpreet Kaur’s destructive innings, and the improvements in Shafali Verma’s game.
Veda Krishnamurthy shared her thoughts on Team India’s 3-0 series win against Zimbabwe in Smriti Mandhana’s first assignment as full-time captain:
“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’s 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.”
On Harmanpreet Kaur’s innings and her emotions after playing that knock:
“I think that’s exactly what is expected of her. 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’s someone who wears her heart on her sleeve, someone who probably expresses a lot more than other players. Sometimes you can’t keep everything inside, and you feel good when you express yourself. Then you saw her on the field, smiling and laughing around. That’s how Harman is.”
On ‘Player of the Series’ Shafali Verma’s improved consistency:
“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’s 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.”
On her impression of Niki Prasad in her debut series:
“She brings a lot to the table because she has the ability to bowl those couple of overs in the middle. She’s someone who can bat at number five or six, and we saw that under pressure on debut, she knows how to hold herself. Also, she is an excellent fielder. The advantage of being a good fielder is that you can have bad days with the bat or ball and not contribute much, but on the field, she will definitely save you 10-15 runs easily. And it’s such a big difference when you talk about T20 cricket.”
