Southampton: After keeping a calm head to hit an unbeaten 62 and help India beat England by four wickets in the ODI series opener, senior all-rounder Deepti Sharma said she knew having a calm and collected approach would help in successfully chasing down 259.
“I’ve faced this situation before and I knew that if I can be as calm as possible and composed (we can pull this chase off). That was a turning point for us, and we focused on building a partnership when I was batting with Jemi.
“The plan was clear - just take 5-6 runs an over, and we knew we can take this close. That’s what we planned and that’s what we did it. (Even after Jemimah was out), I was not nervous. I quite confident that if I stick there, I can finish the game for India. So, I was focusing more on that,” said Deepti in the post-match press conference.
The highlight of Deepti’s unbeaten knock was a one-handed slog-sweep off fast bowler Lauren Bell, which the all-rounder admitted came from seeing how India men’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant executed it in his matches.
India’s win in Southampton also means their final run of fine-tuning combinations for ODI World Cup has started on a winning note. “I think as a team, we did really well in Sri Lanka and here also.”
The second ODI between India and England will take place at Lord’s Cricket Ground on July 19. IANS
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