‘Her rough phase is gone’ – Harmanpreet pleased with Ghosh’s return to form

India’s Road to Recovery

Sometimes one good innings is all you need to regain confidence and 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 and 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.

A much-needed boost

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 that confidence back,’ Harmanpreet said on the eve of their tournament opener with Pakistan. ‘She’s a key player, a game-changer for us, and 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, and 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.’

Pakistan’s preparations

Pakistan 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 and 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.’

Attacking batting style

Pakistan lost their two completed matches of the recent tri-series in Dublin, to West Indies and 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 and 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.’

High-stakes match

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 and 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, and 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 and we just want to enjoy ourselves on the field. More than anything, it is another game we are going to play tomorrow and we just want to play our best cricket.’