Harmanpreet Kaur and her girls tried their best to defend the 135-run total against New Zealand in Auckland on Friday. However, the White Ferns won the series after clinching the nail-biting affair on the last ball with 4 wickets in hand.
Contented over the ODI series victory, the Indian eves found themselves at the receiving end after the second T20I. Captain Harman, on the other hand, appreciated the efforts put by her young brigade and took the defeat as ‘a valuable lesson learnt’.
“No doubt, New Zealand played better cricket than us and so they won. But I am not disappointed that we lost the series. We are here to play good cricket and we did that. We played really well, especially the bowlers,” Harmanpreet said after the match.
“We were defending 130-odd and it was difficult for the bowlers. They bowled really well and took the match to the last over. Overall, we played good cricket.”
She said it was a learning curve for a lot of players in the team.
“We did not win the series but more than winning and losing, we learnt a lot. We have a very young squad, there are very few players who have played more than 30 matches. Most of the players have played less than 10 T20I matches. It is a good learning process for us,” said the 29-year-old batswoman.
“We are building a team. Today, we may be facing difficulties but in future, we will do well as the young players gain experience. I think the future is good for the team and results will follow,” she added.