Women’s T20 Challenge 2020: Trailblazers skipper Smriti Mandhana says plan to attack stumps paid off in lopsided win over Velocity

Sharjah: Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana on Thursday said her team’s bowlers executed their plans perfectly in the nine-wicket rout of Velocity in the Women’s T20 Challenge in Sharjah on Thursday. Mandhana said she told her bowlers to attack the stumps and it paid off. “I just told all the bowlers to keep it back of a length and stick to the stump line. We have a good spin attack. I was following IPL, so I thought we had a good bowling attack (with all the spinners),” she said. She said she was happy when her Velocity counterpart Mithali Raj opted to bat after winning the toss. Mithali’s decision backfired as her side put up a disappointing show to be all out for just 47 in 15.1 overs and Trailblazers chased down the target in 7.5 overs. “I was happy with Mithali’s decision (to bat) as we wanted to have a look at the wicket,” Mandhana said at the post-match presentation. [caption id=“attachment_8986231” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana in action during the second match of the Women’s T20 Challenge 2020 against Velocity. Sportzpics[/caption] “It was a good game. We were really excited. We were raring to play cricket after a break of seven months.” Mandhana said the short four-match tournament would be beneficial for Indian cricket. Velocity captain Mithali said her side would would want to forget this game. “But it is fine because when you have a fresh wicket the batters want to have a bat. That’s the reason we chose to bat. “Personally I would have liked Danni and Shafali to have a big partnership because they are the key for our batting line up and we are dependent on them to give us a start. Unfortunately in both the games we didn’t get that.” Ruing her side’s batting collapse, Mithali said, “Shafali played a cameo but we wanted Danni to spend some time in the middle and then there was a collapse.” Player of the match Sophie Ecclestone, who took four wickets for just nine runs from her 3.1 overs, said she kept it straight and varied the pace on a turning track. “We have a great team with a great bunch of girls, to come up here again and play for them is great. When the wicket wasn’t turning, so I tried to keep it straight and vary the pace. It’s quite nice to get few wickets. “So many youngsters around, they are teaching me the Hindi language and I’m trying to understand their culture,” said the English cricketer.