Smriti Mandhana demands more consistency from the Indian batting department

India Women managed an impressive comeback against England to win the second T20I by eight runs and ended up levelling the series at 1-1. India posted 148 for 4 in the first innings thanks to brilliant knocks from Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur. However, India were under pressure at one point with Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight sharing a 75-run partnership for the third wicket.

Despite that, the Indian spinners managed to turn the situation around by dismissing both the batters. They bowled beautifully in the last six overs and restricted the opposition by eight runs. The Women in Blue will have a chance to win the series when they take on England in the third and final T20I today.

India’s T20I vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, however, feels a lot of work is to be done if they want to get better. “It was a very important win for the team, especially with the way we came back in the last five overs… to win that match,” Mandhana said on Tuesday ahead of the last match of the tour.

“That showed a lot of character from the bowlers and also the fielders… winning the second match – especially the way we came back in the last five overs – showed a lot of character. That was something which was needed. The way we played in the third one-day and again in the second T20, that is something which was much needed, that confidence is going to really help us.”

Batting has been a concern for India Women, especially in the ODI format. In the three matches against England, India batted first twice and failed to get past 225 runs. This is an area that India need to work on and Mandhana feels that the side needs to post 250/260 runs consistently while batting first. She also said that the next seven months will be crucial as they prepare for the one-day World Cup.

“There are lots of things we need to work on as a team, especially in the batting department,” she said. “Going forward, the next seven months are going to be really crucial. We have to start putting up good scores. If I talk about the one-day format, we have to start posting 250/260-plus scores when you are batting first consistently.

I think we can be consistent in that department. So the next seven months are going to be very crucial to get ourselves completely ready for the one-day World Cup. Of course, the Australia series is also going to be big in terms of preparations for the World Cup,” she concluded.