India skipper highlights dot ball issue ahead of semi-final

GQEBERHA: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur underlined the team's shortcomings in the game against England regarding dot balls played and stated that the side will make an improvement regarding it in the coming games. "Against England, we played too many dot balls.

Things like that we have already been discussing in team meetings. But sometimes, when the other team is bowling too well, at the end of the day, these wickets are something when you score 150, that's a par score for you," Harmanpreet said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

India defeated Ireland despite the rain on Monday, and if England loses to Pakistan on Tuesday, they will likely play title favourites and defending champions Australia in the semifinals.

India displayed some progress against Ireland with 41 dots in their innings of 155 for 6, powered by Smriti Mandhana's T20I career-best score of 87, after facing 51 dot balls in their loss to Group B leaders England on Sunday. They intend to cut that even more, especially when playing against an opponent like Australia. Ireland had 44 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay while India had 42 for 0; India had only amassed 63 for 1 at the midway point of their innings.

"World Cup games are always something where both the teams are always under pressure. I think these matches if 150 is on the board, you always [have] the upper hand. We are not putting too much pressure on ourselves. We are just going [out] there and understanding what conditions are there and just playing according to the situation. Dot balls are something which [are] already worrying us. In the next game, we would love to see some improvement in that area also," the captain added.

India made it narrowly when play was halted by rain in the ninth over of the chase, with Ireland five runs behind the DLS par.