NEW DELHI: Pakistan are up against New Zealand in their final group game of the Women’s T20 World Cup and don’t be surprised if you see a lot of Indians supporting and cheering for their arch-rivals. India’s hopes of making the last-four stage of the tournament were severely dented after the defeat to Australia and their fate now rests on the outcome of the game between Pakistan and New Zealand.
New Zealand, currently in third place with four points, will secure the last semifinal spot if they defeat Pakistan.If Pakistan win then India, New Zealand and Pakistan will all be tied with four points each.
In this scenario, India will advance to the semifinals due to their superior net run rate (NRR). Pakistan’s NRR is not very encouraging and at this stage it looks like India or New Zealand will advance.
Indian cricketer Mona Meshram, who has played 26 ODIs and 11 T20Is for India so far, is confident that Pakistan will edge out New Zealand on Monday and help India reach the semifinals.
“This will be the first time when India will be cheering for Pakistan. Pakistan should win and make way for India. Not just me, the entire India will pray for Pakistan. Please, Pakistan, go and beat New Zealand,” said Mona in an exclusive chat with TimesofIndia.com.
“I want India to reach the semifinals. I am confident of a Pakistan win against New Zealand. Pakistan has a massive fan following in the UAE, and this will boost their confidence,” she added.
Chasing a target of 152 on Sunday, India fell short, finishing at 142 for 9. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur remained unbeaten on 54 off 47 balls but her late surge wasn’t enough to overhaul the target. Despite the loss, India remains in second place on the points table with two wins and two losses, though their NRR has dropped to 0.322, still ahead of third-placed New Zealand.
Australia, on the other hand, became the first team from the group to advance to the last four with an unbeaten run, registering four wins in as many games.
Harmanpreet did press on the accelerator in the second half of the innings but didn’t receive enough support from the other end.
“Again, I want to highlight that Deepti has the ability to rotate the strike really well. If Richa had batted ahead of Deepti, it would have made a big difference. Richa can accelerate the run rate, while Deepti can rotate the strike effectively. India needed a batter who could hit hard in that situation,” explained Mona..
“India is the only side that can give a fight to Australia. Both are strong teams, and India put up a very good fight against Australia. The only lapse I could see was that Richa Ghosh should have come in to bat ahead of Deepti Sharma. That move would have made a significant difference for India. But overall, India fought really well.
“Harmanpreet played a captain’s knock, but she didn’t get support from the other end. Again, I want to highlight that Deepti has the ability to rotate the strike really well. If Richa had batted ahead of Deepti, it would have made a big difference. Richa can accelerate the run rate, while Deepti can rotate the strike effectively. India needed a batter who could hit hard in that situation,” she further added.
With 14 runs needed off the last over, India lost four wickets—Pooja Vastarakar (1), Arundhati Reddy (0), Shreyanka Patil (0), and Radha Yadav (0)—off Annabel Sutherland’s magnificent over. Was intent missing from the Indian batters?
“I don’t think the intent was missing. If you look at Shafali, she was playing the way she usually does. Australia planned really well for Smriti Mandhana. They knew that if Smriti settled in, she could destroy them. It seems like Australia had something specific planned against Smriti, and it looked like she was trapped by them. Everyone knows how Harman plays against Australia; she loves to score runs against them. She was fearless but didn’t receive much support,” she concluded.