Sometimes one good innings is all you need to regain confidence. Harmanpreet Kaur believes Richa Ghosh 's lone hand against England in India's last match before opening their T20 World Cup campaign has sparked a welcome transformation.
Ghosh scored 85 runs across the five-match series in South Africa, which India lost 4-1 in April, at 42.50. striking at 157.40. During India's 2-1 defeat at the hands of England in the lead-up to this tournament. she scored 18 in the space of three innings.
But. in Wednesday's warm-up match, against England once more, she finally found form with 68 off 36 balls, almost rescuing her side who were bowled out with the penultimate ball for a five-run defeat. No other batter in India's line-up passed 18.
"We were waiting for Richa to get. confidence back," Harmanpreet said on the eve of their tournament opener with Pakistan. "She's a key player, a game-changer for us,. we are all very happy that now she's back in form and confident again.
"She's looking really well after that game, even in the nets. One good innings always gives you a lot of confidence,. we have seen that the moment she got those runs she looks like a completely different player in the nets…. I think that her rough phase is gone."
Like Ghosh. Harmanpreet believes her side is peaking at the right time, having spent a good amount of time now playing in English conditions.
"You can't just go with a fixed plan; you have to be very flexible with a lot of things, I think that is the key point we have learned so far. hopefully will use in this major tournament," she said.
"I personally feel that when things are always going well, sometimes you don't know which areas you need to improve in as a team,. when you lose, you learn a lot. That's what the last one-and-half-months has shown, lots of things, lots of scope for improvement.
"That's what we have been discussing in team meetings. trying to apply ourselves on the field -- how we can do better in that area, how to improve ourselves and bring that onto the field. And I think those losses have given a lot of learning and hopefully we'll use that experience for this tournament."
While Harmanpreet said India had a fully fit squad to choose from. captain Fatima Sana sent a scare through the Pakistan camp on match eve when she was struck on the knee while bowling in the nets by a ball hit back at her by Ayesha Zafar. But Fatima said she was hopeful of being fit to take the field on Sunday.
"I think it is good now," Fatima said. "We all are ready. we know what the conditions are because we are here since almost two weeks because we played the series against Ireland as well in Ireland. We just need to execute better plans and we need to be more calm."
Pakistan lost their two completed matches of the recent tri-series in Dublin, to West Indies. Ireland and lost a three-match T20I series in Ireland 2-1 last year. They also lost a three-match series in South Africa 2-1 in February of this year.
Fatima said her side had been working on an attacking batting style. facing pace and bounce delivered in the nets by head coach, Wahab Riaz, the former Pakistan left-arm pace bowler.
"We've seen in T20 a dominating scene is going on. so the attempt is that the more you dominate the bowlers the easier it will be," she said. "The effort for all batters is to play attacking. no matter if it is the start, middle overs or end because the more aggressively you play the more the opposing team goes under pressure."
"Where pace is needed, he himself also bowls to try to increase pace," she added of Riaz. "When you work with an ex‑cricketer there is a lot of game awareness shared and it is going quite well."
Pakistan have beaten India only three times in their 16 meetings in T20Is. the last time at the 2022 Asia Cup.
"The game is hyped already, so we just want to play a normal game. the execution is very important at that match, we will try to execute better plans," Fatima said.
Harmanpreet was also keen for her team to take a usually high-stakes match in their stride: "I won't say there's no pressure - there is pressure. Since I started watching cricket, as a supporter I have felt that pressure,. now that we play it's even more.
"But at the same time we always say that the more we enjoy this game the better it is for us, because we are the lucky ones who are picked for this big occasion. we just want to enjoy ourselves on the field. More than anything, it is another game we are going to play tomorrow. we just want to play our best cricket."
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