'We didn't play out best cricket': Harmanpreet Kaur on India's defeat to New Zealand

Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the Indian women's team, expressed her disappointment after her team suffered a 58-run thrashing at the hands of New Zealand in their Women's T20 World Cup opener at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on Friday.

“We did not play our best cricket. Going forward we know every game is important,” Kaur said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Chasing a target of 161, the Indian women's team were bowled out for 102 in 19 overs, with no single player reaching an individual score of 20. Rosemary Mair wreaked havoc, tearing through the Indian batting lineup. She claimed four wickets for 19 runs in her allotted four overs.

Harmanpreet, however, refused to acknowledge that the target was big enough for India.

“We have chased many times 160-170, we were expecting that on the board," she said, adding, "While batting, we knew someone had to bat through but we kept losing wickets.”

Harmanpreet, who scored 15 off 14 balls before being trapped in front for LBW by Mair, exuded hope on her team and said they have the capability to perform better.

“We know this group is capable of better, this was not the start we were expecting but we have to go from here," said Harmanpreet.

Talking about her bowlers, she said the team failed to make use of the chances they created.

“We created chances but we were not able to avail those chances. They played better cricket than us, no doubt about that. Fielding we made some mistakes so that is a learning for us going forward,” she said referring to Renuka Thakur’s sloppy outfield effort and wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh’s bungle in the Powerplay.

India will face off against archrivals Pakistan on Sunday.