Inspite of the corona virus threat India scheduled to play ODI series against South Africa starts from March 12. India lose couple of series to the New Zealand led by Kane Williamson. India lost the ODI series as well as test match series in a whitewash manner to the New Zealand. On the other hand South Africa whitewashed Australia in the 3 match ODI series.
India keen to play this match with precautions as the spread of corona is bit high in range. Experts advised Indian team how to safeguard them self from the infection.
“We are taking every precaution we can. We have a team of doctors with us, who are advising us on dos and don’ts,” Bhuvneshwar told reporters during the pre-match press conference on Wednesday (March 11).
“We have a meeting with our doctors. If they advise us to not use saliva on the ball, then we will follow it. So, it all depends upon the instructions given by the doctor,” he added.
The first match of the series is set to take place on March 12 at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (c), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lundi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj
Indian captain Virat Kohli is just a few steps away from breaking Indian former player Sachin Tendulkar’s record. Tendulkar scored 12000 runs in ODI matches which took 300 innings for him to achieve this. Australian former player Ricky Ponting holds the second position in the list where it took 314 innings to reach this high. While former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara did so in 336 innings.
Kohli-will be the fastest cricket to score 12000 runs?
The run-machine Virat Kohli is just 133 runs away from reaching 12000 runs in ODI. Kohli has 239 innings under his belt in his carrier which means if he crossed 12000 runs in this series he will break Sachin Tendulkar’s record and become the fastest to achieve this.
Virat Kohli
In the recent tour of South Africa, Kohli failed to show his performance and scored few runs in the ODI as well as in test match. In the ODI series against New Zealand Kohli scored a highest of 51 and he scored 15 and 9 in the remaining two matches. In the subsequent two match test series, Kohli only scored 2,19,3,14 runs where India lost the series as 2-0 against New Zealand.
In the South Africa’s tour of India the first ODI match will be played at Dharamsala. The consecutive ODI matche will be played on March 15 in Lucknow and the last match on March 18 in Kolkata.
Virat Kohli who recently lost the No.1 position in the ICC Test batsman ranking is expect to make his return through this ODI series. Ahead of the T20 World cup series which planned later this year India expect to get back to its form. Indian opener Rohit Sharma is still under recovery from his calf injury that leads him to miss the South African series.
South Africa planned to play 3 ODI matches against India from March 12, in spite of the corona virus fear. India lose couple of series to the New Zealand led by Kane Williamson. India lost the ODI series as well as test match series in a whitewash manner to the New Zealand. On the other hand South Africa whitewashed Australia in the 3 match ODI series.
After the successful victory South Africa registered their first win in seven series across formats since the 2019 World Cup. India set to play without their hit-man Rohit Sharma as he ruled out due to the calf injury occurred during the match against New Zealand. India’s other opener Shikhar Dhawan missed the entire New Zealand series due to the shoulder injury. Dhawan want to perform well in order to make sure he make his case stronger for the T20 World Cup later in the year. In Rohit’s absence, Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill will fight it out to join Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the order.
The Proteas, on the other hand, would be feeling a lot more confident, especially considering the performances of Janneman Malan, Heinrich Klaasen and Jon Jon Smuts who scored big in the home triumph against Australia. However, what the visitors would desperately want is that their experienced duo of skipper Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis perform well.
“We have just beaten a very good team now. We needed confidence and it will certainly give us a lot of confidence. India is going to be a tough test. Lot of guys haven’t played a lot of cricket in India. What’s impressive is guys have responded to the messages we have sent out to them on batting and bowling perspective,” said South Africa head coach Mark Boucher and he would want his troops to replicate their Australia performance against the Men in Blue.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (c), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lundi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj
Ahead of the 13th edition IPL, every team players started practising for their appearance in the matches on their home ground. IPL Schedule has been announced and it is about to get started from March 29, 2020. Even though there are lot of talks about postponing the IPL due to CORONA, the players and their practise session doesn’t get stopped at any time.
One of the famous IPL team Chennai Super Kings starts their practice from March 1 at Chepauk. Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni arrived Chennai to start his practice where he received roaring reception from Chennai team as well as from fans.
The former Indian skipper was last seen in action against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup semifinal, a game India lost. He made himself unavailable for India’s international assignments post the WC exit and was eventually dropped from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players in January.
This IPL set as a major event for his comeback to International matches that too in the upcoming T20I world cup set to begin later this year. On behalf of his return BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and India head coach Ravi Shastri points out”Dhoni’s international future depends on his performances in IPL 2020 which comes in to consider him in T20 World Cup planned later this year in Australia”.
As per the schedule CSK skipper MS Dhoni starts his practice session in Chennai along with the other players. The three times champion Chennai Super Kings gets into hard core training keen to win the 2020 IPL trophy. In the previous year IPL finals CSK’s fight against Mumbai Indians gets to failure. The same teams locks their horn for the opening match of the IPL 2020.
During the practice session at Chepauk Dhoni hits five consecutive sixes that make fans to get mad. CSK’s another famous player and all-rounder Suresh Raina too practice aggressively to make a slot in the T20 world cup.
Raina’s Devotion towards Cricket
The CSK squad is currently prepping for their first match by taking part in intense practice matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.
During one such training session, Suresh Raina was spotted discussing something with Dhoni in the middle of the crease while the duo was batting. Raina accidentally hit Dhoni’s bat by mistake with his foot and suddenly worshipped the bat with heartwarming gesture. This attitude shows how he respect cricket and also the cricket materials.
Raina Accidentally Stepped on MSD’s Bat..Once He Noticed, He Worshipped his Bat.
CSK – Chennai Super Kings, the team of legends and a friendly crew that everyone knows it well. No other IPL have such a crazy fan base other than Chennai Super Kings. Now, it’s HOLI and the celebration begins as expected.
CSK Fans Always Make it Special
Recently, all the IPL team players started practising for their appearance on the matches on their home ground. IPL Schedule has been announced and it is about to get started from March 29, 2020. Even though there are lot of talks about postponing the IPL due to CORONA, the players and their practise session doesn’t get stopped at any time.
When CSK kings, (THALA) Dhoni & (CHINNA THALA) Raina came into the ground to start practising, the stadium seats was sold almost. Nothing else is needed to show up the great support for the players. Even the players doesn’t stop with it. CSK Key Players started practising to make the ball fly out of the ground.
Head of CSK, Proud Member & a Finisher – MS Dhoni made it so good and the video went viral. During the practise session, MS Dhoni hits five consecutive sixes and that left the crowd in delight. People said “we are waiting for the IPL Match nothing else to see his excellent form with his bat again”.
HOLI HOLI – Colourful Celebration
Every years the team celebrates the special days in a very special way and now it is HOLI time. The CSK players took it to a whole new level, players express their love and affection towards the crew members through their celebration. Fun starts when Murali Vijay induced the holi celebration later Suresh Raina joined in.https://youtu.be/Y0dItNOPEi0
CSK players turned Chepauk into Sowcarpet with their colourful celebration.
According to a report, after three more people were identified with having the coronavirus in Karnataka, the state is considering suspension or postponement of the IPL. The identification of the new victims was tweeted by the state’s health minister B Sriramulu on Tuesday, March 10.
Indian Premier League set to begin from March 29 with its opening match against Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. This IPL set to be a huge platform for many Indian senior players to return to the International squad especially for MS Dhoni.
The former Indian skipper was last seen in action against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup semifinal, a game India lost. He made himself unavailable for India’s international assignments post the WC exit and was eventually dropped from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players in January.
As pointed out by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and India head coach Ravi Shastri, “Dhoni’s international future depends on his performances in IPL 2020 which comes in to consider him in T20 World Cup planned later this year in Australia”.
BCCI also announced the change in prize money, which has been slashed 50 percent compared to the previous year. BCCI also announced a lot of changes in cost management for this IPL session.
Ganguly changes IPL prize money
Karnataka Government denied hosting IPL matches
With this lot of changes and expectations IPL set to begin from March 29. But due to the increasing in corona virus infection, Karnataka state government has written a letter to the central government requesting for the postponement of the IPL.
Further on, reportedly, the Karnataka Government has also denied hosting the IPL matches. Earlier, the Maharashtra government also raised its concerns regarding the scheduling of the IPL. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had revealed that he believes that the IPL can be organised later.
“There is always a possible danger of spread (of contagious diseases) when large numbers of people gather in one place… Such (IPL) events can always be organised later,” Tope had earlier said.
Irfan Pathan’s unbelievable performance leads India Legends to win the match against Sri lanka Legends. Pathan shines in batting by scoring crucial 57 runs from just 31 balls with three 6’s and six 4’s. He also uproot the important wicket of Sri Lanka legends by dismissing Romesh Kaluwitharana.
Pathan took a special liking to Farveez Maharoof as he slammed the medium pacer for two sixes and a boundary while a boundary and a six off Tillakaratne Dilshan was enough to finish the game for India legends.
India legends failed openers
Chasing 139, India Legends got off to the worst possible start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar (0) in the very first over of the innings. Soon after, Virender Sehwag (3) and Yuvraj Singh (1) were sent back to the pavilion, reducing India to 19/3 in the fifth over.
After Indian legends team opener Sachin and Sehwag failed to score the pressure builds over the middle order players. Indian legends star players Sachin,Sehwag and Yuvaraj returned pavilion without scoring even 5 runs. Thus the responsibility lies over the remaining players.
Sachin Tendulkar dismissed
Kaif and Pathan took the responsibility
Indian all-rounder Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan took that responsibility and start to show them-self with some good shots. At the starting Kaif and Sanjay Bangar starts to gather some runs where this duo added 43 runs for the fourth wicket. At the end of 10th over Rangana Herath dismissed Bangar (18).
With a need of 58 runs from 34 balls for the victory, Kaif (46) also gave away his wicket. Irfan Pathan then joins hand with Manpreet Gony and expect to show some glorious shots for the victory. Without any disappointment Pathan starts to show off in the final overs.
— Irfan Pathan’s “Fan Club” (@AllrounderIrfy) March 10, 2020
Irfan Pathan scored 57 runs in just 31 balls with six 4’s and three 6’s in total. Pathan and Gony’s 58 run partnership takes India to a victory by five wickets and with eight balls to spare.
Man of the match
Irfan Pathan(India Legends)
Irfan Pathan : I’m getting better with age, isn’t it? It’s wonderful to be back playing in front of a full house. Master’s managing everything, and that’s helping us, he knows everything about the other teams. When I came in to bat, we needed 12 runs an over. I needed only one ball to find the middle of the bat and that Maharoof’s over (where 26 runs were scored) helped us.
Australia’s head coach Justin Langer said that they are in need of a finisher like MS Dhoni in the limited-overs match. MS Dhoni still considered one of the best finishers in world cricket.
The former Indian skipper was last seen in action against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup semifinal, a game India lost. He made himself unavailable for India’s international assignments post the WC exit and was eventually dropped from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players in January.
Justin Langer on MS Dhoni
“We’ve been fortunate in the past with a Mike Hussey or a Michael Bevan who are masters at it. MS Dhoni is a master of it, Jos Buttler has been brilliant at it for England,” Langer was quoted as saying by the ICC.
Dhoni- best finisher
“What I’ve learned is everyone in the world is looking for it,” he added.
Australia lost their ODI match in a whitewash(3-0) format on their South Africa tour. In the last two matches Mitchell Marsh batted at number six, Langer believes it could serve as a good platform to show his batting talents in the upcoming series.
“So it’s a role that’s there for someone to grab hold of,” said Langer.
“No one at this stage has absolutely secured it, have they? But there are good opportunities there for someone to do that,” he added.
Over the last year, as many as 13 batsmen have occupied positions 4-7 for Australia in ODIs, with nine different batsmen tried out at No.6.
Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis occupied the spot in five matches each, but Stoinis, particularly, misfired in the role, scoring just 27 runs in four innings.
MS Dhoni’s Future
The upcoming edition of IPL will also mark MS Dhoni’s return to competitive cricket after close to 8 months of absence. As pointed out by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and India’s head coach Ravi Shastri, Dhoni’s international future depends on his performances in IPL 2020 which comes in to consider him in T20 World Cup planned later this year in Australia.
After this defeat Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar again took a tweet to console Indian women’s team on behalf of their defeat in finals.
Tendulkar took to Twitter to write: “Congratulations to Australia for winning the @T20WorldCup. It was a tough day for #TeamIndia. Our team is young and will grow into a solid unit. You have inspired many across the globe. We are proud of you. Keep working hard and never lose hope. It will happen one day.#INDvsAUS.”
Congratulations to Australia for winning the @T20WorldCup. It was a tough day for #TeamIndia. Our team is young and will grow into a solid unit. You have inspired many across the globe. We are proud of you. Keep working hard and never lose hope. It will happen one day.#INDvsAUSpic.twitter.com/RrH1dLqkBW
On the other hand, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly wrote: “Well done the Women’s team @bcci @JayShah .. Two back to back World Cup finals .. but we lost .. u we’re super .. we will get there someday .. love the team and players.”
Well done the Women’s team @bcci@JayShah .. Two back to back World Cup finals .. but we lost .. u we’re super .. we will get there someday .. love the team and players
Safali Verma’s poor performance in finals pushed her to 3rd position from her No.1 position in T20 batting ranking. Beth Mooney from Australia crowns the top position after the finals.
The 13th edition of IPL is set to begin from March 29 with opening match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. The four time IPL champions Mumbai Indians faces three times IPL champion Chennai Super Kings for the first match at Mumbai.
Message from BCCI
The former Indian skipper was last seen in action against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup semifinal, a game India lost. He made himself unavailable for India’s international assignments post the WC exit and was eventually dropped from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players in January.
As pointed out by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and India head coach Ravi Shastri, “Dhoni’s international future depends on his performances in IPL 2020 which comes in to consider him in T20 World Cup planned later this year in Australia”.
Dhoni’s return
As T20I world cup set to begin later this year everyone expect Dhoni to get in to the squad. MS Dhoni keen to get slot in the International squad for the T20 world cup so he started his practice from March 2 at Chepauk-Chennai. Dhoni’s name was not included in the upcoming ODI match against South Africa,planned before IPL.
“It was a pretty straightforward selection meeting and since Dhoni was obviously not in the reckoning this time (for South Africa series), there was no formal talk about his future,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI.
Officials confirms that only Dhoni’s performance in IPL would bring him back in squad. Not only for Dhoni other senior players who proves their form would get a chance to return to the International squad.
“He will be back in the reckoning only if he has a good IPL. And why only him, there are so many senior and young players who will play in the IPL. If they do well, they are ought to be considered too. So, you could see some surprise inclusions,” he added.
“But the performance in the IPL could be the clincher,” the source further claimed.
The upcoming edition of IPL will also mark MS Dhoni’s return to competitive cricket after close to 8 months of absence. Dhoni who keeps changing his hair style have come with a new style for this year IPL. Celebration begins when he reach Chennai airport and heads to the team hotel.
The former Indian skipper was last seen in action against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup semifinal, a game India lost. He made himself unavailable for India’s international assignments post the WC exit and was eventually dropped from the BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players in January.
As pointed out by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and India head coach Ravi Shastri, Dhoni’s international future depends on his performances in IPL 2020 which comes in to consider him in T20 World Cup planned later this year in Australia.
Dhoni breaks his silence through a advertisement. In the clip, the CSK skipper can be seen inside an aeroplane when two fellow passengers start saying that Dhoni and his side won’t be able to replicate their past glory in this year’s IPL.
However, after they spotted MSD sitting right next to them, one of them started apologizing while the plane made the announcement: “Seat belt baandh lijiye sir. Plane aur helicopter dono take-off karenge.”
Toss : Australia Women won the toss and opt to bat.
Captain’s view
Harmanpreet Kaur: My mom’s sitting somewhere in the stands. It’s a pressure game and we also wanted to bat first. We are quite confident while chasing, hopefully the bowlers restrict them. We did some indoor practice. We are trying to staying together, because you are not getting games it tends to affect your focus. We want to treat this like any other game and give our best shot.
Meg Lanning: We are going to have a bat, looks a good wicket. Crowd’s amazing, looking forward to it. Every game has been close, it’s been cut-throat, but we need to be at our best today. India are a great side, hopefully it’s a great game. We are going in with the same team tonight.
Squad
India Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie Molineux, Nicola Carey, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham, Delissa Kimmince, Megan Schutt.
Australia batting
Massive opening partnership
Defending champion Australia gets into ground in order to register their fifth victory in the T20I women’s world cup. Healy and Mooney gets in the crease, Healy is on strike. Deepti Sharma opens the attack against Aussies. Healy strike the first ball towards boundary and starts aggressively.
An early catch dropped by Shafali at covers which would cost India. Australia hits 14 runs in the first over of the match bowled by Deepti Sharma. Australian players starts to strike aggressively that Indian bowlers can’t face them. Both openers have got a life each due to the poor fielding set up. At the end of power play Australia scored 49 runs without a wicket loss.
50-run stand
Poonam Yadav to Mooney, 50-run stand up, their 10th one in this format. Openers stand strong and seems settled in the ground with form. Healy in the 7th over bowled by Gayakwad hit back to back six and boost the score to 70 by scoring 16 runs of that over.
With a boundary Healy scored her half century. she has set the stage on fire. Raises her bat to acknowledge the huge crowd support. Gets to the milestone with a loft down the ground, played that straight as an arrow.
Healy scored 75 runs
Strike hat-trick six
Healy seems unstoppable as she strike hat-trick sixes in Shikha Pandey’s over and brings a 100-run stand up between Healy and Mooney. Indian bowlers get in pressure to break this partnership as Aussies crossed 100 runs at their 11th over.
Indian fans breathe again
Finally India got the break through as expected by uprooting Healy for 75 runs. Indian fans breathe again, but Healy has gotten Australia off to a superb start. The hosts couldn’t have asked for anything more from her. Nothing stops Aussies from scoring as their other players continued their strike without any second chance.
Mooney reached her 9th T20I fifty after a single from Poonam Yadav’s over. Two fifties from two openers, Australia stands tall with this strong base.
Radha Yadav dismissed Healy
Deepti Sharma’s two wicket
Deepti Sharma dismissed Lanning(16) and Gardner(2) in the same over and slow down their run rate. But Aussies already crossed 150 runs and placed them self in a comfortable zone.
Mooney stands un defeated
Mooney’s boundary kept Aussies alive in the match and dragged towards scoring big. Australia scored 184 runs in 20 overs, Aussies players exposed their aggressive strike and dragged Australia towards this massive score. Mooney stands un-defeated in ground with a score of 78 runs.
Beth scored her 9th half century
Over-view
Those are massive runs. India will feel they have restricted a bit, especially with Healy going berserk. Australia were 114/0 in 11 overs. Healy was unbelievable with her powerhitting. Hubby Starc was all smiles in the hospitality zone. India began with spin. Deepti Sharma started the game with three full tosses and that was the momentum Healy needed. Clean hitting and then Shafali helped by dropping her fifth ball of the game. India were poor with their bowling – either overpitching or too short. Basically they hardly bowled to the field. Their bodylanguage was so down and Kaur’s look when Healy smashed a hat-trick of sixes said it all
India’s batting
Shafali Verma dismissed at the beginning
With an dream to achieve their maiden world cup trophy, Indian women’s team gets in ground in their special day. The Aussies greatest fear Shafali Verma is in strike, Schutt who mentioned about Shafali Verma earlier gets in attack. Soon Shafali Verma dismissed by Schutt at an very early stage and give a lightning attack to India.
Scutt after dismissing Shafali
Struggled India
After Shafali Verma’s wicket India seems to be in very bad situation but except other players to show their ability in order to win the trophy. In the very next over India got two major blow as Bhatia return pavilion with retired hurt as missed a sweep and get hit on the helmet. In the last ball of the over India lose their belief as Rodrigues departures without scoring any.
With a couple of boundaries from Mandhana, fans expect India would get in the game. But soon Molineux scatters every Indian dream by dismissing Mandhana for 11 runs. Indian skipper Kaur too return pavilion for 4 runs without showing any massive strikes. At the end of 10 overs India scored 51 runs for 4 wicket loss and seems this women’s day won’t be a special day for them.
India starts losing wicket in a regular interval of time and struggled to drag towards a descent defeat. Though India seems strong in their league matches, finals show them the real cricket. At the end of 15th over India scored 81 runs for 5 wicket loss.
Kaur return pavilion
Without reaching 100
India’s struggled to beat Australia buts ends without scoring 100 runs in total. India scored 99 runs for 10 wicket lose and will return home without the trophy. Australia beats India by 85 runs and bags their trophy. This women’s day seems to be a great day for Australia as they registered their 5th win in the ICC Women’s T20 World cup.
Australia women’s bowling
Over view
It was a dominating performance from the top-ranked side. Australia bullying their opponents in a World Cup final, that’s become a routine hasn’t it! Everything went right for them on the big night. They out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded India. Healy set the stage on fire with an entertaining innings at the top and Beth Mooney complemented her well. The reactions when Healy smashed hat-trick of sixes said it all. Kaur was shell-shocked and the two Australian openers had bright smiles on their faces.
Shafali gets in tears
Australian players talk
Ashleigh Gardner: Having a home crowd was amazing. It’s an honour to play for my country and represent my culture as well. I never thought I’d play in front of 86000 people. It was incredible to see the Mexican wave.
Jess Jonassen: Feels absolutely incredible at the moment. How good was that (the Mexican wave). We had a massive 12 months leading to this and we didn’t have the smoothest of the tournaments, but we had our best game today.
Megan Schutt: I am absolutely overwhelmed, the atmosphere couldn’t have been any better. I was excited and ready to go, been waiting for this since a long time. They came out with so much confidence, the openers. We all are happy to be here and be a part of this event. We just want to enjoy every moment.
Rachael Haynes: It’s incredible (feeling), hard to put it in words. To come out today and put out that sort of a performance today was so special. The support for the game was great and it was great to be part of this experience.
Player of the match
Alyssa Healy(Australia)
Batting : 75 runs from 39 balls
Alyssa Healy: It was unbelievable, thank you everyone. You can’t wipe out the smile out of my face. It’s the nature of how I play, just needed a little bit of luck. Just went out there and enjoyed my time. Mooney is sensational. She got off strike and let me do my thing. We are having a lot of fun together.
Player of the series
Beth Mooney(Australia)
Beth Mooney: The crowd has been amazing right throughout the tournament, I’m lost for words. I think we stuck to our processes, if it wasn’t your day someone else chipped in. We sort of knew what went wrong against India in the first game and we worked on our plans accordingly. Everyone did pretty well, and we had the support of 87000 people. I like to challenge myself and find new ways to be the best in the world. We have great support around us and I’ve been very fortunate. I’ll keep going along as long as I can. I’d love to take the gloves, but I’m not that bad in the outfield either.
Captain’s view
Meg Lanning: I’m just proud of this group. We have had ups and downs. To put this kind of performance on the biggest day is outstanding. There was a lot of expectations from us. We were hoping to be there. To get here was a significant achievement. We had to change our tactics quickly, had to execute on the big stage. I knew she’s (Schutt) going to perform well. I’d like to thank all the support staff, to family and friends. And, also to the fans, I’m happy to play in front of you.
Harmanpreet Kaur: The way we played in the league stages, it was outstanding. It was unfortunate to drop those catches today. Upcoming one and half years is important. The future is good for us, we need to trust ourselves. You have to keep learning. The first game was very good, it gave us a lot of confidence. We spent a lot of time together, unfortunate for us not to win today. We have to keep working hard. We are in the right line, every year we are improving. We need to play with more focus. Sometimes, we are not able to give our best. This year we are hoping for some more games in the Women’s T20 Challenge. That tournament is very important. Hopefully, we do get more players.
