Women's T20 World Cup 2020: Harmanpreet Kaur warns India against making 'silly mistakes' after booking semi-finals spot
India booked their spot in the semi-finals after registering their third consecutive win in the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup by defeating New Zealand by three runs.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who was delighted after her side reached the semi-finals, was, however, quick to highlight the shortcomings, which could arise in the harder games ahead.
In what was another close encounter for the Women in Blue, the middle-order failed to deliver once again as India managed to post a total of just 133, which the White Ferns couldn't reach by the barest of margins.
Apart from Shafali Verma's 46-run blitz from just 34 balls, wickets kept tumbling as a result of a misfiring middle-order. However, the Indian bowlers brought the team back into the game as New Zealand finished at 130-6.
Also see – Women’s T20 World cup points table
While speaking to the reporters in the post-match conference, Kaur said that India need to avoid 'silly mistakes' in the upcoming fixtures.
"It's a great feeling when your team performs day in day out. Still we made the same mistakes after a good first ten overs, we got a good start but couldn't carry the momentum. We can't make silly mistakes with harder games coming up. Shafali is giving us good starts, her initial runs are crucial for us."
16-year-old Verma has been impressive as an opener with her fearless batting, having scored 113 runs in her three innings at a massive strike rate of 172.73. Verma once again starred against New Zealand and was given the Player of the Match award for her hard-hitting knock.
Verma spoke on her match-winning performance and noted that hitting the loose balls away for runs is her strength.
"I was happy with the performance and wanted to give a good start at the powerplay. I waited for the loose balls which is my strength and it paid off today."
New Zealand's skipper Sophie Devine lauded her team's effort for restricting India to a low total and said that they won't be affected by the loss for too long.
"I thought we did a fantastic job to restrict them after Shafali's start. We adapted the conditions, adjusted our line and lengths, tied them down. The way the team nearly closed out the game was fantastic. We certainly can't dwell on this or sulk about it for too long, we have Bangladesh next."
Having sealed a semi-final berth, India will be hoping to avoid their mistakes and remain unbeaten in the group stage when they face Sri Lanka on Saturday.