Smriti-Shafali partnership shows India’s potential, says Poonam Yadav

Former India leg-spinner Poonam Yadav believes India can win next year’s Women’s Champions Trophy if the team continues to improve. She praised Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma for their match-winning partnership against Zimbabwe in the second T20I

New Delhi: Veteran India leg-spinner Poonam Yadav believes the Smriti Mandhana-led side has what it takes to win next year’s Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to be played at home, provided the team continues to learn from its mistakes, as it did while thrashing Zimbabwe by nine wickets.

In the match played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Sunday night, India corrected its mistakes from the series opener to thrash Zimbabwe by nine wickets and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

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After suffering a batting meltdown in the first game before completing the chase of 115 with four wickets in hand, captain Smriti and her deputy, Shafali Verma, put together a 96-run opening stand to chase down 103 in 8.5 overs.

“This dominant and commanding victory by India in the second T20I against Zimbabwe shows that the team did its homework properly. The players made a lot of mistakes in the first match of the series, and that was understandable because they were playing against Zimbabwe for the first time and were not really familiar with their bowlers.

“But coming into the second match of the series, it was important for the Indian team to learn from its mistakes, and it did exactly that. The players did not repeat those mistakes, which is a sign of a team being led by a good captain,” Poonam said on JioStar.

Smriti, who fell for nine in the first game, scored an unbeaten 47 off 25 balls, while Shafali smashed 55 off 24 deliveries.

“She used her feet well, utilised the depth of the crease and forged an excellent partnership with Shafali. If India keeps improving like this, game after game, I see no reason why it cannot go on to win the Champions Trophy next year,” Poonam added.

She further described the opening duo of Smriti and Shafali as the backbone of India’s batting, adding that their ability to score through timing, rather than just power, sets them apart from others.

“Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma have become the pillars of Indian batting. A good batting pair in T20 Internationals has the ability to score not just through power but also through timing. These two do exactly that.

“They bat according to the demands of the situation, which makes batting look easy and does not give opposition bowlers a chance to dominate them. In the previous game, both Shafali and Smriti were dismissed early, but in this match, they were determined not to repeat that, as both played good knocks, built a strong partnership and laid the foundation for the run chase.

“The hunger was evident in the way Smriti and Shafali built this partnership. Their attitude was: ‘We made a mistake in the last match, but we won’t give you the chance to dismiss us cheaply every time,’” Poonam added.

The third and final T20I will be played at the same venue on Tuesday.