After the disappointment of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, India bounced back well to win the three-match ODI (2-1) against New Zealand. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that the team wanted to ‘win the series at any cost’.
India had two wins and as many losses in the T20 World Cup recently. They lost to New Zealand and Australia while they beat Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, they failed to make it to the semi-finals.
India started off the series with a 59-run win in the first ODI where they defended 227 successfully. New Zealand bounced back superbly to win by 76 runs. The Sophie Devine-led side defended 259 in the second ODI. With the series on the line, Smriti Mandhana struck a fine ton with Kaur chipping in with an unbeaten half-century as India hunted down 233 comfortably to seal the series.
This is India’s second successive ODI series win at home. They beat South Africa 3-0 earlier this year. But Kaur stressed on the importance of this series win after they had a lackluster run in the T20 World Cup. In fact, she also mentioned that they wanted to bounce back after the loss in the second ODI as well.
“It was important for us as we wanted to win this series at any cost. As I said in the morning, we discussed a lot of things and really happy we could execute today. Whenever we play, we always want to give our 100% but sometimes things don’t go your way. As a professional cricketer, you have to keep pushing yourself and keep going. We discussed these things in the team meeting so really happy we could come back after that loss in the last game,” Harmanpreet Kaur was quoted saying at the post-match press conference.
India’s fielding has been always in question. Hence, the India skipper admitted that the team is looking to improve in that aspect of the game all the time. She wants India to be the ‘best fielding side’.
“Always talking about our fielding, that’s an area we need to keep working hard. We are working hard but just waiting for the results till the time we can be the best fielding side,” Kaur added.
India’s next series is against Australia in Australia which is scheduled to be played in December.
