Through to semis, Harman wants to end group stage on high

Melbourne, February 28

Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur insisted that her side will take their final group game of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka seriously before shifting focus on to the semifinals.

India became the first side to sail through to the knockout stages after securing wins against defending champions Australia, Bangladesh and New Zealand. “I know we have qualified, but the next game is still crucial for us. We will be taking Sri Lanka very seriously,” Harmanpreet said. “They’ve been doing well. I know they haven’t won a game but they were almost there on both the occasions. We will be taking it very seriously before we start thinking about the semifinals,” she added.

Victory over Sri Lanka tomorrow would see India top Group A and head into the semifinals high on confidence. “We try to take every wicket in all our games. Every wicket is an important one at this level. We just have to try and stick to our plan, especially to get out the likes of Chamari Atapattu early. That will be crucial,” Harmanpreet said.

Sri Lanka have arguably had the toughest start to the tournament, having lost to New Zealand and Australia in their opening two games. “We want to take victories in our next two games. We did well against Australia and New Zealand, but we couldn’t turn it into a win,” Sri Lanka veteran Shashikala Siriwardena said. “We have to do what we have done well in the previous matches against India but at the same time we need to correct the mistakes we are repeating,” she added. — PTI

England beat Pakistan by 42 runs

Canberra: Skipper Heather Knight blasted a fluent fifty before spin twins Sarah Glenn and Sophie Ecclestone shared five wickets as England registered a 42-run win over Pakistan to strengthen their semifinals bid at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. In another match, South Africa mauled minnows Thailand by 113 runs to go top of the group, riding on a 60-ball 101 by opener Lizelle Lee.

Brief Scores:

England: 158/7 (Heather Knight 62, Nat Sciver 36; Aiman Anwar 3/30); Pakistan: 116 (Aliya Riaz 41; Sarah Glenn 3/15, Anya Shrubsole 3/25)

South Africa: 195/3 (Lizelle Lee 101, Sune Luus 61*; Ratanporn Padunglerd 1/19); Thailand: 82 (Onnicha Kamchomphu 26; Shabnim Ismail 3/8, Sune Luus 3/15)