Anjum Chopra questions Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana’s approach: "Why are you batting with the mindset that you are not in form?"

Former India Women’s captain Anjum Chopra reckons that openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana batted with a mindset that they were out of form during the T20 World Cup clash against Ireland.

India Women beat Ireland Women by five runs (DLS method) in their last group game in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Monday, February 20. With the win, the Women in Blue confirmed their berth in the semi-finals of the ICC event.

Mandhana registered her career-best T20I score of 87 (off 56 balls) in the game, but not before being dropped four times. The left-hander and Shafali Verma (24 off 29) added 62 for the opening wicket in 9.3 overs.

Despite India Women’s victory in the match, Chopra was not too pleased with the opening partnership between Mandhana and Shafali. Sharing her views on her YouTube channel, she said:

"Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana batted well, but their batting wasn’t convincing. I was surprised. Both players have been scoring runs and had a long net session before the match as well. The catch practice that they gave, I felt strange. Why are you batting with the mindset that you are not in form? This should not happen."

Reflecting on India Women’s overall batting performance, Chopra added:

“Largely thanks to Smriti Mandhana’s knock, India managed to put up a decent score on the board. The wind suddenly picked up, and then it rained as well. Conditions were difficult.”

Mandhana slammed nine fours and three sixes in her innings as India posted 155/6. Ireland were 54/2 in 8.2 overs in the chase when rain came down and brought an end to the match.

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“This is a wake-up call for India” - Anjum Chopra on Ireland’s poor fielding effort

While India managed to sneak in a victory via the DLS method against Ireland, Chopra reckons that things could have been different if the opposition fielders had held their catches. The 45-year-old stated:

“This is a wake-up call for India as to how fielding can cost you a match. If Ireland had taken all their catches, there would not have been such a difference in the DLS par score. In that case, India’s total could have been a lower one. And who knows what could have happened in that scenario.”

With England set to top Group B, India are likely to face Australia (the top-placed team in Group A) in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2023.