Kiran Navgire’s blistering 51 off 27 balls wasn’t enough to help UP Warriorz secure its first points of the WPL season. After UP’s seven-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals on Wednesday, the opener said her knock had given her a confidence boost heading into the Bengaluru leg.
“I stuck to my basic plan of watching and hitting the ball. The runs that you score in the PowerPlay benefit in converting starts,” said Kiran after the match.
“I tried to make full use of the PowerPlay. I was trying to execute the plan of hitting the ball hard. Today’s knock gave me a lot of confidence, and it will help me going forward in the tournament. There is a match-winning knock also in the offing,” she said.
Kiran gave her side a strong start before the Capitals stormed back with a couple of crucial wickets. She felt that the Warriorz, who managed to post 166 on the board, were short by a few runs.
“It was a very good pitch for batting. Around 180 would have been enough to win the match. But we fell short by 10 to 15 runs,” she said.
While Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma’s partnership helped DC take control of the chase, the Deepti Sharma-led side clawed its way back with quick wickets. Kiran said the focus was not on taking wickets but on building dot-ball pressure.
“We discussed taking the game deep and increasing the percentage of dot balls. We didn’t focus on getting wickets because it was a flat pitch which was easy for batting.
“Deepti is very cool as a captain. It feels great to play under her. She handles all the players very well, and there is never any pressure,” she said.
The Warriorz head into the second leg in Bengaluru with two losses from as many games. However, Kiran is confident that the team will find its footing soon.
“The positive is that we are a well-balanced team. We will back our players and try to win all the matches in Bengaluru.”