Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana wants her focus to remain focused on the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup and not focus too much on her high-profile opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan. India are scheduled to begin their tournament campaign against Pakistan in Birmingham on June 14, an event that always generates massive public interest.

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“We played the India-Pakistan match in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and all our tickets were sold out,” Mandhana told reporters. “Not just India-Pakistan, I think we really need Promote T20 World Cup. We don’t need to hype up just one match. It is already publicized. I am sure a lot of people will come and support us. Hopefully, we can put on a show for them.”

The 29-year-old opening batsman was speaking after India suffered a six-wicket defeat against England in the third T20I, giving the hosts a 2-1 series win. Mandhana blamed India’s inability to apply consistent pressure through dot balls during England’s chase of 181 for the defeat, something she hopes the team will rectify ahead of the ICC event.

“We certainly had a very good start with the ball and restricted England to 35 for 3,” Mandhana said. “Eventually, we might have been able to create pressure with some dot balls, but we weren’t able to do that. I can’t really take anything away from their partnership; I think they played really good cricket shots.”

England recovered from the initial shock thanks to a massive 137-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Alice Capsey, who scored 82, and captain Heather Knight, who remained unbeaten on 70.

Despite losing the series, Mandhana found reason to remain optimistic, pointing to the superb form of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who propelled the Indian innings with a blistering 56 off 40 balls to take the team to 180 for five.

Mandhana said, “She batted surprisingly well. Harman, when she is at her best, she is a pleasure to watch.” “I think everyone is in good shape. It’s a good sign for the World Cup that Jamie, Herman, everyone looks great from the outside. Hopefully, I can see from the non-striker end.”

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