New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Veteran India leg-spinner Poonam Yadav believes the Smriti Mandhana-led side has what it takes to win next year's Champions Trophy, to be played at home next year, provided it keeps learning from its mistakes the way they did on their way to thrashing Zimbabwe by nine wickets.
In the game held at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Sunday night, India corrected its mistakes from the series opener win to thrash Zimbabwe by nine wickets and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
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 a 96-run opening stand to chase down 103 in 8.5 overs.
"This dominating and commanding victory of India in this second T20I against Zimbabwe shows that they did their homework in the right manner. They made a lot of mistakes in the first match of the series and that was okay because these players were playing for the first time against Zimbabwe and they were not really familiar with their bowlers.
“But coming into the second match of this series, it was important for the Indian team to learn from their mistakes and they did exactly that. They didn't repeat the mistakes and that is the sign of a team being led by a good captain,” said Poonam on JioStar.
Smriti, who fell for nine in the first game, made 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, then I see no reason why they cannot go on to win the Champions Trophy next year," added Poonam.
She further described the opening duo of Smriti and Shafali as the backbone of India's batting and added that their ability to score through timing, not 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 have the ability to score not just through power, but also through timing. These two do exactly that.
“They bat as per the demands of the situation, which makes batting look easy and doesn't give the opposition bowlers a chance to dominate them. In the previous game, both Shafali and Smriti got dismissed early, but in this match, they were having none of that, as both of them played good knocks, built a strong partnership, and set the platform for the run chase.
“The way this partnership was stitched by Smriti and Shafali, that hunger was evident in them, that 'We had made a mistake in the last match, but we won't give you the chance to dismiss us cheaply every time,'" added Poonam. The third and final T20I will be played the same venue on Tuesday.
--IANS
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