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Sanjay Manjrekar reckons the New Zealand-like conditions in Dubai were partly responsible for India's loss to the White Ferns in their first game of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup. He added that the result might have been different had the match been played in Sharjah instead of Dubai.
New Zealand set India a 161-run target after opting to bat first in a Group A game on Friday, October 4. They then bundled the Women in Blue out for 102 to complete a 58-run win.
Reviewing the game on Star Sports, Manjrekar attributed India's defeat to alien conditions in Dubai.
"The start was not good in bowling because the first one or two overs were very expensive, and even in batting. If I have to review this match, the conditions in Dubai for this match were suiting New Zealand a lot," he said.
"If this match had been in Sharjah, the result might have been totally different because if you see this pitch, it seemed like they were not playing in Dubai but Dunedin and New Zealand made the most of it. They bowled very full. They didn't bowl even a single short delivery," the former India batter added.
None of the Indian batters played a substantial knock, with Harmanpreet Kaur's 14-ball 15 being the top score. Rosemary Mair (4/19) and Lea Tahuhu (3/15) made the most of the seamer-friendly conditions to run through the Indian batting lineup.
"I am slightly disappointed with the way they go out" - Sanjay Manjrekar on India's batting
In the same discussion, Sanjay Manjrekar expressed disappointment about the Indian batters' mode of dismissals.
"The sort of shots they played, I am slightly disappointed with the way they go out. You could have fallen short of 160 because I feel this was a big score on that pitch, but the batters played similar shots and got out," he said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the Women in Blue chose the wrong options while looking for big shots.
"Firstly, well done to New Zealand, the conditions were like New Zealand, and the Indian batters were trying too much to win the match with fours and sixes, and that too they were hitting straight, which was probably not the right shot on this pitch," Manjrekar explained.
Manjrekar praised Sophie Devine (57* off 36) for her 'sensible' play. He highlighted that the New Zealand skipper concentrated on ones and twos, and played more horizontal bat shots when looking for boundaries.
While acknowledging that India have excellent batters, he added that they didn't have anyone with Devine's batting style and power, which proved the difference in the end.
