Women’s T20WC 2024: India’s fielding coach lifts team morale after New Zealand’s loss in tournament opener

After their dismal beginning to their Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, fielding coach Munish Bali gave the team some inspiration. Notably, in their tournament debut, the India Women in lost to New Zealand by an astonishing 58 runs.

As a result, the team is under a lot of pressure, especially given the challenging group they are in after the loss to the White Ferns. But there were moments of brilliant fielding from the squad, especially after a few early hitches in the powerplay overs. There were several noteworthy improvements in India’s fielding efforts despite the team’s generally dismal record.

It’s interesting to note that women’s cricket follows the same “fielding medal recognition” at the camp as does men’s cricket. Jemimah Rodrigues rescued vital runs for her team while covering a lot of territory. She received the Best Fielder medal as a result of her efforts being acknowledged.

Let’s recover in the following game, just as we did in fielding: Munish Bali

Munish Bali spoke to the team in the locker room, emphasising their resilience and the good things about their game. After early errors, he praised the fielding recovery.

Interestingly, there were a few early snags before women truly took off, displaying incredible fielding talent in both catch attempts and ground fielding.

 

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Smriti Mandhana and Shreyanka Patil demonstrated their quick reflexes by skilfully catching objects. Citing such excellent instances, the coach hoped that the team will approach the current Women’s T20 World Cup with a positive outlook and recover quickly, much like fielding.

“Good luck, ladies. I know this wasn’t the best start, and it wasn’t what we had hoped for. We’ll get better. If we take out the sixth over, which we committed two mistakes in, then we were able to recover and win the game. Fantastic work. Shreyanka Patil and Smriti Mandhana, great catches. Pooja Vastrakar, well done on the diving and fielding. Three excellent boundary saves. “Let’s bounce back in the next game, just like we did in fielding,” Bali stated in the video that the BCCI posted to their Instagram account.

With a fast-bowling 56 off 37 balls from captain Sophie Devine, New Zealand amassed a massive total of 160 runs. Early in the chase, Eden Carson bowled both of Team India’s openers, while captain Harmanpreet Kaur was dismissed for 15.

Also Read: ‘Don’t want to think about result, focus on process’- Jemimah Rodrigues on T20 WC preparations

In the end, Rosemary Mair of New Zealand claimed remarkable figures of 4/19 as the side was bowled out for 102 in 19 overs. The Women in Blue’s next matchup is against Pakistan, their bitter rivals, on October 6 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.