Women's T20 Challenge: Trailblazers made small mistakes against Supernovas - Deepti Sharma

The India all-rounder says her work on her game during lockdown helped her execute her game-plans on Saturday.

Deepti Sharma lofts the ball to leg en route to her unbeaten 43 in Sharjah on Saturday. - BCCI/IPL

Trailblazers all-rounder Deepti Sharma on Saturday said she worked on her game after the coronavirus-forced lockdown and that it helped her execute her plans in the contest against Supernovas in the Women’s T20 Challenge. Deepti scored an unbeaten 43 but couldn’t ensure victory for her side.

“After the lockdown I worked a lot on lofted shots and inside-out shots and I was able to apply it here,” she said at a press conference after her team’s two-run defeat .

“Obviously, the wicket is a bit different to Indian wickets. They are slow and low but I don’t think it should matter much. You just have to watch the ball and hit the ball,” she said.

Deepti said the Trailblazers would work hard and rectify the mistakes when the two sides meet in Monday’s final. “Small mistakes... in fielding, bowling. We will work in our practice session and will look to rectify the mistakes we made today, in the next game,” she said.

“Overall we did well. Winning or losing is part of the game.”

'Good score'

Deepti felt 146 was a good score to chase as the deliveries were coming on to the bat. “146 was a good score. Actually the pitch here is usually slow and low. But today the wicket was good and the ball was coming on the bat, some balls were keeping low. Ideally this was a good score to chase. It was good that we took it close,” Deepti said.

Supernovas medium-pacer Shakera Selman, who took two wickets - including that of fellow West Indian Deandra Dottin - said it felt good to reach the final after losing the tournament opener. “Feels good to reach the final. Supernovas are known for losing the first game and then winning the competition, so hopefully, we can repeat that,” she said.

'Great experience'

Selman said she was happy to be playing in these extraordinary times.

“It’s been a great experience, very happy to be playing in these times. West Indies and England players have an advantage but Indians and other overseas players are also playing well,” Selman said.

She said her team had been confident about defending the total after scoring 146 for six.

“We were still confident. We knew where we went wrong in the first game and we had the confidence that we could defend this total,” Selman said.

“We are going to focus on their main batters. They obviously got depth in the batting and we saw that today,” she said.