A World Cup win is not far now, declared India’s all-rounder Deepti Sharma after the team’s record-breaking seventh win in the Women’s Asia Cup on Saturday. Barring an aberration against Pakistan that resulted from some bizarre planning and experimentation, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side prevailed in the continental T20 tournament. The final against Sri Lanka proved to be a one-sided affair as they limited the Islanders to an undersized 65/9 en route to an eight-wicket victory.
“As a team, we did well from the first game to the final. Of course it gives confidence when you win the final,” said Deepti, who was named Player of the Tournament, during the media interaction after the game.
The 25-year-old off-spinning all-rounder topped the list with 13 wickets from eight matches at an average of 7.69. She opened the bowling in the final and returned with clean numbers of 4-0-7-0, setting the tone.
“As a team we did well and supported each other, which is good. During the tournament we wanted to enjoy every game.” India has now won all editions of the Asian Cup, except for the last time in 2018 when they lost to Bangladesh.
However, the ‘Women in Blue’ have yet to taste success at a global level.
They have lost the ODI World Cup final twice (2005 and 2017), while India came second to Australia in the latest edition of the T20I World Cup in 2020.
But buoyed by the Asian Cup victory, Deepti said a World Cup victory is not far away now. The next edition of the T20 World Cup in South Africa is just four months away.
“If we work like this as a bowling and batting unit, the World Cup is not very far either. This will be the mentality when we play a final next time. Certainly this Asia Cup triumph will help a lot, the winning moment gives your confidence for the upcoming series,” Deepti added.
“Our focus has always been to do it right, rather than just win, and it was about playing one game at a time,” she said of their approach in the Asian Cup.
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“As a bowling unit, we planned to bolster our strengths and focus on our skills. We bowled in partnerships that put them under pressure and they threw their wickets away.
“They (Sri Lanka) did well in the semi-finals and we didn’t take them lightly. But that’s the sport, one team wins and the other loses. They did well throughout the tournament. Maybe it wasn’t their day today,” she concluded.
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