Birmingham, Aug 6 (BPNS) 

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur acknowledged that she would be closely watching the second semifinal of 2022 Commonwealth Games between Australia and New Zealand to set their plans for the gold medal match to be held on Sunday.

On Saturday, India shrugged off their jinx of losing to tougher teams and falling short by the smallest of margins when it mattered the most to defeat England by four runs in the first semi-final and enter the gold medal match at 2022 Commonwealth Games.

India will now face either Australia or New Zealand from the second semi-final, to be held later on Saturday, for the gold medal match in the final on Sunday while England now enter the bronze medal match scheduled for the same day.

“I definitely will, to learn from it and make our plans for the final. I had to be fired up, because if I am charged the team would be involved and they’d never think we’re out of the game,” said Harmanpreet to broadcasters after the match.

Asked about India’s batting performance, where they posted a competitive 164-5 in 20 overs, Harmanpreet remarked, “Shafali did well in patches, sometimes it’s hard to go when you don’t get strike. She’ll learn about staying in and find ways to overcome such situations. But Smriti was fantastic.”

With her part-time off-spin, Shafali gave 15 runs in her second over, which was covered up by tight spells from spinners Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana. “She’s very confident, we need someone who asks to bowl. You need to mix up the pace, so we tried to use her to vary the speeds. One of her overs went well but the other was expensive,” stated Harmanpreet.

Harmanpreet hoped that batter Jemimah Rodrigues would recover well in time for the final after not fielding in the final over due to injury. “Jemimah is a fighter, these things happen. She will be fine, she got a little strain on her hand but she should be able to turn up for the final.”