Mandhana: ‘Shafali and I have a huge role to play’ at the T20 World Cup
Mandhana: ‘Shafali and I have a huge role to play’ at the T20 World Cup
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has put the onus on herself and her opening partner Shafali Verma to set things up for India at the upcoming T20 World Cup, after failing to give the team strong starts in the T20I series against England, which they lost 2-1 on Tuesday.
Mandhana and Shafali had opening partnerships of 19, 27 and 0 in the three games but Mandhana believes the two have a ‘huge role to play going forward’ as India look to add the T20 World Cup trophy to their cabinet after winning the ODI World Cup at home in November last year.
Preparations for the T20 World Cup
‘For me and Shifu, we are definitely timing the ball well but unfortunately we are not able to contribute in big ways for the team,’ Mandhana said after the third T20I, which India lost by six wickets. ‘But for both of us, we’ll go back in the nets, keep working hard and make sure we come back stronger as an opening pair because both of us pride ourselves to give good starts and keep the momentum going. But unfortunately we could not do that in this series. We’ll take it in our stride and try and work hard.
‘Coming early and playing a series in England before the World Cup is definitely good to do in terms of preparations.’
Takeaways from the Series
Some of the better takeaways for India from the series was the form of Yastika Bhatia on return from injury, as she finished as the top run-scorer across teams with 119 runs, with one half-century. The decider on Tuesday also saw captain Harmanpreet Kaur score an unbeaten 56 off 40, although India’s 180 for 5 wasn’t enough against England.
‘She batted amazingly well today,’ Mandhana said of her captain. ‘Harman, when she is at her best, it is a sight to watch. Today, she played all over the ground, really important innings under pressure today, especially when we needed that knock to get us to 180-plus. Really happy. I just feel everyone is definitely in good nick. It’s good signs going forward for the World Cup that Jemi [Jemimah Rodrigues], Harman, everyone is looking really beautiful to watch from the outside. Hopefully, I can watch from the non-striker’s end.’
Looking Ahead to the T20 World Cup
India’s opening match of the T20 World Cup is against Pakistan on June 14 in Birmingham. They are pooled in Group 1 with Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh and Netherlands, and will also play two warm-up matches against West Indies (June 8) and England (June 10) before the start of the tournament proper.
‘India-Pakistan doesn’t need hype,’ Mandhana said. ‘We did play India-Pakistan at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and [it was] sold out. Not only India-Pakistan, I just feel we really need to hype up the T20 World Cup. We don’t need to [do it for India vs Pakistan]; it’s already hyped up. I am sure a lot of people are going to come and support us. Hopefully, we can put up a show for them.’
Rohan Kapoor is a cricket editor and sports content analyst based in New Delhi with over 6 years of experience covering IPL, T20 leagues, and international cricket. He specializes in match analysis, player statistics, and tactical breakdowns, bringing data-driven insights to modern cricket audiences across India.
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