New Delhi: Pakistan take on New Zealand in their final group match in 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 reaching the semi-finals of the tournament were severely affected by the defeat to Australia and their fate now depends on the outcome of the match between Pakistan and New Zealand.
New Zealand, currently in third place with four points, will secure the final semi-final spot if they defeat Pakistan. If Pakistan wins, India, New Zealand and Pakistan will be tied on four points each.
In this scenario, India would qualify for the semi-finals due to their superior Net Run Rate (NRR). Pakistan’s National Reconstruction Plan is not very encouraging, and at this stage it appears that either India or New Zealand will come forward.
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 semi-finals.
“This will be the first time India will cheer for Pakistan. Pakistan must win and make way for India. Not just me, entire India will pray for Pakistan. Please, Pakistan, go and beat New Zealand,” Mona said. Exclusive conversation with TimesofIndia.com.
“I want India to reach the semi-finals. I am confident that Pakistan will beat New Zealand. Pakistan has a huge fan base in the UAE and this will boost their confidence,” she added.
Chasing a target of 152 on Sunday, India fell short, finishing on 142 for 9. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur remained unbeaten with 54 off 47 balls, but their late lead was not enough to overhaul the target. Despite the loss, India remains in second place on the points table with two wins and two losses, although the scoring average has dropped to 0.322, still ahead of third-placed New Zealand.
On the other hand, Australia became the first team from the group to qualify for the semi-finals undefeated, with four wins in the same number of matches.
Harmanpreet stepped on the throttle in the second half of the innings but did not receive enough support from the other end.
“Again, I want to highlight that Dipti has the ability to rotate the strike really well. If Richa had batted before Dipti, it would have made a huge difference. Richa can accelerate his run rate, while Dipti can rotate the strike effectively. He explained. Mona said India needed a batsman who could bat hard in this situation.”
“India is the only team that can compete with Australia. Both are strong teams and India put up a very good fight against Australia. The only lapse I saw was that Richa Ghosh should have come in to bat before Deepti Sharma. This move could have made a huge difference for For India, but overall, India fought well.
“Harmanpreet played the captain’s knock, but she did not get support from the other end. Again, I want to highlight that Deepti has the ability to spin the strike really well. If Richa had batted before Deepti, she could have scored,” she said. . “Richa can accelerate the run rate, while Deepti can rotate the strike effectively. India needed a batsman who can bat hard in this situation,” she added.
With 14 runs needed from the last over, India lost four wickets – Pooja Vastarakar (1), Arundhati Reddy (0), Shreyanka Patel (0), and Radha Yadav (0) – off Annabel Sutherland’s brilliant over. Was the intent missing from the Indian batsmen?
“I don’t think the intent was missing. If you look at Shafali, she was playing the way she usually plays. Australia planned well for Smriti Mandhana. They knew that if Smriti settles, she can destroy them. It looks like that,” he said. “Australia had planned something specific against Smriti, and she seemed to be cornered by them. Everyone knows how Harman plays against Australia. She loves to score against them, but she did not receive much support,” she concluded.
