'All boxes were ticked' - Harmanpreet Kaur on winning against Sri Lanka in T20 World Cup 2024

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur expressed her feelings after the team's crucial 82-run victory over Sri Lanka in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 on Wednesday. 

Harmanpreet Kaur won the Player of the Match for her amazing knock of 52 runs off just 27 balls. It is important to note that Kaur had to retire hurt in the match against Pakistan. She was forced to leave the ground after getting hurt while saving herself from stumping.

 "When you play good cricket you always feel well, today all the boxes were ticked, we have been talking about our fielding and we took all our catches and that's something very important to us. We did discuss before the game, if we are batting first what are the targets you need to set. These pitches are really tricky, we can't go and execute. Today lot of things went according to plan, Harmanpreet Kaur after beating Sri Lanka in the World Cup 2024 match." 

Kaur's knock helped the side to put up a score of 172 on board for the opponents which included the biggest six of the tournament so far as well. After the batters, the bowlers Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy and Asha Sobhana who did their job to keep India's hopes alive for the semi-finals took 2, 3 and 3 respectively. \

Also Read: Twitter Reactions: Mandhana, Harmanpreet, bowlers grant India massive win against Sri Lanka

She also added that she wanted to be on the crease for a little longer, " It was one of those days where I was in my zone, I was thinking positively and hitting anything that was in my zone. These wickets aren’t very true for batting. You have to keep rotating strike and only when the ball is in the zone can you swing your bat. We were there today for the team, we trusted ourselves and were rotating strike, and that’s what worked for us. We didn't throw our wickets away, we were there, there for the team, and I am really happy with the way we played."

The openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave a good start to the team by scoring 50 and 43 runs respectively. Their extraordinary partnership of 98 runs gave a boost to the Women in Blue which helped the middle orders to continue the pace that helped them put in the highest score of this year's T20 World Cup edition. 

On the other hand, team India restricted Sri Lanka to 6-3 in the third over before they bowled out the Lions for 90 to keep their semi-final hopes alive. Kaur made sure to keep the momentum on the field which powered them to beat the Lions in the crucial match. 

India Women are now in the second place of Group A where they will face the defending champions Australia on Sunday in Sharjah. The Women in Blue skipper is hopeful of the side putting up a tough show against the opponents. 

On the other hand, Sri Lanka have lost all three matches in the tournament and will now finish their campaign against New Zealand on Saturday. Skipper Chamari Athapaththu shared that the side is yet to recover from their first defeat against Pakistan. "We struggled even in the bowling, we dropped a few catches. Batters did not do their job, especially myself. Top-order got out early and it is tough to chase this. We have to go back to the white board and work on things. The first game is really important for this kind of tourament, it is a low-scoring game and as a batting unit we had to chase that target. The players were down after that first game and I try to lift them, it happens in cricket and we have one game left, we have to play our best cricket against New Zealand. Very happy with my bowling unit, how they bowled in the last two games, not today," Athapaththu said.