According to a report published in The Times Of India, after having a good start in the ongoing T20 World Cup earning a victory in the last two games consecutively, team India’s women’s team is about to face a real test. This Saturday in Gqueberha, the women are going to face the toppers of Group 2 England, in the third match of the group.
The last time both team India’s and England’s women met was at Lords during the third ODI in September, last year. The match had a controversial moment when team India’s allrounder off-spinner Deepti Sharma made England’s Charlie Dean run out over the non-striker’s end and won the match for India by sixteen runs. Deepti’s action of runout had infuriated the former cricketer’s of England leading to debate and criticism. But Deepti had the support of the Indians who defended her.
Team India’s women are full of confidence before this match as they defeated England 3-0 and recorded their first-ever ODI series victory in England in twenty-three years. They even defeated England by four runs during the T20 semi-finals in the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
However, it must not be forgotten, in the T20s matches, team India’s women have met England in twenty-six games till now. India won seven of them while team England won nineteen matches. India has lost to England five times in all the T20 World Cup encounters and is yet to win a game against England. It is being said that both these teams have kept aside the sourness of the previous incident around Deepti Sharma. They are looking forward to winning Saturday’s game. This game is a big one because it will be the decider on which team rises up to the top spot in the pool.
Shefali Sharma, the Indian opening batter who has scored twenty-eight and thirty-three runs during the first two games in this tournament is very optimistic about this game. On the eve of the match, she said that the previous series’ victory against England has boosted the team’s confidence. But the players are more focused now on Saturday’s match which is going to be a very important one. The players are looking ahead to giving their hundred percent effort and enjoying the game while executing the plans.
Shefali is a little focused on her performance. She said that despite giving the team an aggressive start she is generally losing her wicket when she is in the twenties or thirties odd runs. She wants to hold her wicket for longer and score more runs. Shefali further stated that during the last two games as well the strategy of her was to score more runs but somehow it didn’t fructify.
A win in this game shall move team India closer to the semi-finals. But team India knows that they have to bring their best game against England as the English team has already beaten West Indies and Ireland and are at the top of their Group.