"It seemed the Indian team weren't ready at all" - Anjum Chopra on India's 2024 Women's T20 World Cup loss to New Zealand
Anjum Chopra feels New Zealand completely outplayed India in their first game of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup. She opined that the Women in Blue didn't seem prepared for the White Ferns' onslaught with the bat.
New Zealand posted 160/4 after opting to bat first in Dubai on Friday, October 4. They then bowled India out for 102 to register an emphatic 58-run win.
In a video shared on her YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that New Zealand put immense pressure on India with their attacking approach and that Harmanpreet Kaur and company didn't have an answer for that.
"India were completely outplayed by New Zealand. Captain Sophie Devine said she would want to bat as soon as she won the toss. Putting runs on the board is one thing but doing that by putting pressure is another. They put a lot of pressure on the Indian bowlers and they never left that approach," she said (0:30).
"They kept hitting boundaries one after the other. The attacking approach they adopted, I think the Indian team, especially bowling, wasn't ready for that. They were not allowed to bowl at all. The pressure New Zealand put, the Indian team couldn't emerge from that. I am repeating again, it seemed the Indian team weren't ready at all," the former India captain added.
Chopra expressed happiness that Asha Sobhana (1/22 in four overs) was part of the playing XI, highlighting that the leg-spinner helped bring the run rate down to some extent in the middle overs. However, she added that Sophie Devine's fantastic knock (57* off 36) took the target slightly beyond India's reach.
"They disappointed once again" - Anjum Chopra on Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana's opening partnership
Reflecting on India's chase, Anjum Chopra noted that Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana let the team down once again.
"Shafali and Smriti didn't deliver the start expected from them. They disappointed once again. They have disappointed more than the number of times they have won us matches. If you don't perform at such a stage, you are disappointed yourself but the team is extremely disappointed," she said (3:30) in the same video.
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that none of the Indian batters put up any resistance and that the crushing loss to New Zealand would have left them disappointed.
"The Indian team couldn't recover from that setback. No batter looked in the flow to be able to chase runs and come even close to the target. The Indian team showed a poor game. This wasn't expected at all from the Indian team. They will be extremely disappointed that they lost to New Zealand like this," Chopra observed.
Harmanpreet Kaur (15 off 14) top-scored for India with the bat. Five Indian batters, including the skipper, reached double digits but none played a substantial knock.