Why India batted defensively vs Pakistan: Mandhana explains

'We didn't want to end up losing a lot of wickets. We were a little calculative.'

India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana defended her team's ultra-defensive batting approach in a chase of 106 runs against Pakistan on Sunday which might have greatly dented their chances of reaching the Women's T20 World Cup semi-final.

India struggled to victory with seven balls to spare despite losing just four wickets. India's entire innings had five boundaries compared to Pakistan's eight. Shafali Varma played 35 balls for her 32 while Jemimah Rodrigues consumed 28 balls while scoring a painstaking 23.

It was skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who stroked 29 before getting retired hurt, who helped boost India push towards victory in the closing stages.

"A better start with the bat would have been good, but we will take that win," said Mandhana at the post-match presentation ceremony admitting that they 'did think about' the net run-rate.

Before the Pakistan game, India's NRR was -2.90 and after the win, it has marginally improved to -1.217 which is inferior compared to Pakistan's -0.555.

"Me and Shafali could not time the ball," she was forthright in her admission. "We didn't want to end up losing a lot of wickets. We were a little calculative. The NRR is in our head," she added.

Group A Standings after India vs Pakistan match on October 6, 2024:

She however couldn't provide a lot of update on Harmanpreet's on-field injury that forced her to retire hurt.

"Too soon to say anything. Medical team is looking at it. Hope it's not too bad," she said.

The next game is against Sri Lanka and Mandhana expects that India will put up a better show than the Asia Cup final, which they lost.

"They have been playing good cricket but this game (against Pakistan) will give us the momentum."

Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana felt that her team was 15 runs short from their eventual total of 105 for 8.

"We were not up to the mark in the batting. We were 10-15 runs short."