look news india
Dambulla, July 24 (HS). India's acting captain Smriti Mandhana said that her team will not take its opponent lightly in the semi-finals of the Women's Asia Cup 2024. The Indian team has made it to the semi-finals by remaining unbeaten in the group stage.
India concluded their group-stage campaign by defeating Nepal by 82 runs on Tuesday night. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side topped Group A and remained unbeaten with six points. Following India's win, Pakistan also qualified for the last four by finishing second in the group stage.
With India set to play in the last four and their opponents yet to be decided, Smriti said the Indian team will not take their opponents lightly.
After the match against Nepal, Smriti said, “You can't take any team (semi-final opponent) lightly. We have two days to rest and practice, after that we will go out on the field and test ourselves.”
India started their campaign with a thumping 7-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan. They continued their undefeated streak with a 78-run win over the United Arab Emirates. Against Nepal, India won by 82 runs.
After seeing Nepal's stellar performance, Smriti is hopeful they will do even better in the future.
“They (Nepal) always had a smile on their faces, but sometimes, with the amount of cricket we play, we forget to enjoy the game. They played some good cricket, and hopefully, they will keep getting better, and we will get a chance to play them more often,” he said.
Throughout the tournament, India's middle order wasn't tested thoroughly, with openers Mandhana and Shafali Verma doing most of the work for the team. Smriti is happy that the middle order got some game time ahead of the knockout stage.
He said, “Playing time is very important for all the batsmen. The middle order has not batted in the previous matches. The circumstances were different and it is always good to get playing time. The middle order did not get playing time in the South Africa series as well, so it was good that they were able to spend some time on the field. Preparations started after the WPL, there is still a lot to fix and we have to constantly improve, we cannot go to the World Cup with less preparation.”