File image of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma.© X (Twitter)

Ahead of the Women’s Asia Cup game against Nepal, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said that cricket is like a “god” to her since it has given her everything. The Women in Blue will be aiming to make it a hat-trick of wins as they carry on their women’s Asia Cup title defence in a match against Nepal on Tuesday. While India is at the top of Group A with two wins in two games and are almost certain for the semifinals, they would like to win this last group stage game to keep the momentum going. So far, India has notched wins against arch-rivals Pakistan and UAE.

Speaking exclusively to ” target=”_blank”>Star Sports, Harmanpreet said, “Cricket, I think, is everything to me. Without cricket, I do not think I would be anything. The name that cricket has given me, no other field could have given it to me. So I think, for me, cricket is like a god. Whatever I dreamt of in my childhood, whatever I dreamt of while playing, everything has been given to me by cricket.”

Harmanpreet recalled that when she held the Indian jersey for the first time, she took a picture after wearing it. After that, she was confused about whether to share the picture with her parents first or with her coach.

“I can say that off-field, when I held the Indian jersey for the first time, I took a photo after wearing it for the first time, and I was just thinking about who deserves this photo first. Should I send it to my parents, or the coach who gave me this platform, who gave me admission to his school, and said, ‘I will start cricket in school for you,’ should I send it to him? So I was so confused, who should I send first, because both were equally important to me,” said the skipper.

On her favourite moment on the field, Kaur said that her knock of 171* in 115 balls against Australia in the semifinal of 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup stands out to her.

“On the field, in 2017, when I scored 171, that was something. I remember before that game, one of my friends told me, ‘We will win tomorrow only if you score 150 runs.’ I said, ‘150 runs? I have heard that you will score 100 runs, you will win tomorrow. 150, I mean, what is this demand, right? I will have to score 150 runs to win tomorrow.’ So that was stuck in my head for the whole night, and I kept thinking, ‘It is the Australian team, so I will have to play something different to beat them,’ because they had such a strong team. So I think that was very special for me,” recalled Harmanpreet.

Harmanpreet said that over last seven to eight years, the team’s performance has been very good. But before that, they were not able to win so many tournaments and play an aggressive brand of cricket, she added.

“So we always discuss that if there are two options, we will always choose the aggressive option. Before, it felt like we were playing timidly. When things did not go according to our plan, we used to get scared very quickly, but now we play a little brave cricket, so we make brave decisions. With time, we have forced people to come to the stadium through our performance,” she concluded.

File photo of Saika Ishaque.© BCCI

Commanding fifties by Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp was well complemented by a fine effort by the bowlers as South Africa registered their first win in the ongoing tour with a 12-run victory over India in the opening women’s T20I in Chennai on Friday. Sent in to bat, South Africa’s terrific effort with the bat, heavily assisted by India’s poor fielding, ensured that it posted a solid total of 189 for four, with Brits (81 off 56 balls) and Kapp (57 off 33 balls) anchoring the innings.

In reply, the Indian openers began on a strong note with opening pair of Shafali Verma (18 off 14 balls) and Smriti Mandhana (46 off 30 balls) putting on a 32-ball 56-run stand before the former perished in the sixth over to Ayabonga Khaka.

Dayalan Hemalatha (14 off 17 balls) then joined Mandhana in the middle and the duo constructed a 31-run partnership.

But the tourists did manage to keep the pressure on, picking up a A wicket either side of drinks.

First Mandhana departed off Chloe Tryon in the 10th over, quickly followed by Hemalatha, who was cleaned up by Nadine de Klerk in the following over, as the score read 87 for three.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues then joined hands and took the attacking route with the required run-rate rising.

The two brought up their 50-run stand in 38 deliveries, bringing down the equation to 47 off 18 balls.

Jemimah continued her onslaught and brought up her 11th T20I half-century in 29 deliveries as 21 was needed off the last six balls.

But it was not to be as Nonkululeko Mlaba held her nerve to concede only eight runs in the final over.

While South Africa had four different wicket-takers, de Klerk’s economy played a vital role in the triumph.

There were some injury concerns as well as Richa Ghosh was replaced by S Sajana as the concussion substitute after the former fell face first on the ground, attempting to take a catch. Also, Brits was stretchered out of the ground with severe cramps.

Earlier, Brits and Kapp helped South Africa post their highest total in T20Is against India.

Brits, whose innings came off 56 balls with 10 fours and three sixes, and skipper Laura Wolvaardt (33) were off to a watchful start, managing 50 in 43 balls.

But, the Indians failed to latch on to a few chances with Wolvaardt and Kapp being dropped in the 4th and 10th over, while Brits too was later dropped in the 16th over.

The lack of bounce on the pitch allowed Kapp and Brits to implement the sweep shots efficiently.

Pooja and Radha grabbed two wickets each for India, whereas the former was also decently economical.

File photo of Koneru Humpy.© Twitter