Sanjay Manjrekar blames 'Dunedin-like conditions' for India's loss vs NZ in Women's T20 World Cup

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the conditions in Dubai played a big part in India's loss to New Zealand in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that India could have done a lot better had the match been played at Sharjah instead of Dubai.

India suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the group stage of the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. New Zealand batted first and scored an imposing 160-4 on the back of a magnificent 57 off 36 balls from skipper Sophie Devine and 34 off 23 balls from the opener Georgia Plimmer.

In reply, Indian batters struggled to get going as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored with 15 which shows the performance of the batting line-up. India were bundled out for just 102 runs, thus losing the match by 58 runs.

Also read: Kamran Akmal surprises fans, calls Gautam Gambhir his 'brother' despite past rivalry

Sanjay Manjrekar reveals why India lost to New Zealand

While speaking to Star Sports after the match, Sanjay Manjrekar reviewed the game and shared his opinion on India's performance. Manjrekar felt that the conditions in Dubai suited New Zealand more and they made full use of those conditions.

"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," Sanjay Manjrekar said.

New Zealand had an opening stand of 67 runs in just 7.4 overs which set the tone for the rest of the batters to follow. Despite a brief comeback from the Indian bowlers in the middle overs, the White Ferns were mostly dominating throughout the innings.

"The conditions were like New Zealand" - Sanjay Manjrekar

The former India batter congratulated New Zealand for the victory and felt that India were trying too hard to hit fours and sixes. He further added that India might have won if the match had been played in Sharjah as the conditions in Dubai were like Dunedin.

"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," Sanjay Manjrekar reckoned.

"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," he noted.

Seaming conditions trouble India in Dubai

The conditions in New Zealand were highly conducive to seam bowling as the ball was continuously moving under lights. New Zealand's medium pacers got enough assistance and they kept troubling the Indian batters throughout the innings.

In contrast to Dubai, Sharjah is more known for spin-friendly surfaces and it has been evident this tournament as well. This was also the first time when India played a match on this ground.

With this loss, India's chances of moving to the next stage of the tournament have taken a big blow. The Women in Blue will now face Pakistan in the highly anticipated clash on October 6.