“Deepti Sharma is a very smart spinner”: Nannapat Khoncharoenkai on her gritty 41 against India and the Asian Games challenge
When Thailand were bundled out for just 65 runs against India in the recent Women’s Asia Cup, one performance still caught everyone’s attention – a gritty 41 off 48 balls from 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Nannapat Khoncharoenkai.
Thailand Women’s Cricket Team are now preparing for the upcoming Asian Games in Japan after a tough outing in the recently concluded Asia Cup in Dubai. Placed in Group A, they began their campaign with a six-run win over Hong Kong, China, followed by crushing defeats against India and Pakistan.
However, their bowlers were quite impressive – first defending 120 against Hong Kong, China, then, at one stage, reducing India to 137/9 and also restricting Pakistan to 119/9. But it was their batting unit that failed to turn up, especially when they were bundled out for just 65 against India, followed by managing only 84/8 against Pakistan.
Still, Khoncharoenkai showed courage and once again demonstrated why she is Thailand’s highest-ever run-getter in WT20Is (2,847 runs in 131 innings).
Despite her team being bundled out for 65, her gritty 41 on a typical Dubai pitch, where India’s quality spinners were getting plenty of turn and variable bounce, showed her willingness to fight for the team.
Now, in an exclusive interaction with RevSportz, Khoncharoenkai shared her experience of playing in the recent tournament, especially shedding light on her gritty knock against the Women in Blue.
“This Asia Cup has given me a lot of valuable experiences and lessons,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot from this tournament. Playing against India’s bowling attack was a big challenge. I tried to stay focused and watch the ball carefully. I’m happy that I could contribute to the team.”
She mentioned Deepti Sharma when asked about the bowler she found toughest to play against on that track. Deepti, who eventually ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets in five innings, picked up three wickets against Thailand without conceding a single run, including the wicket of Khoncharoenkai.
“For me, I would say Deepti. She is a very smart spinner with good variations. So she was quite difficult to play.”
Talking about the campaign, she clearly mentioned that, as a batting unit, they could have done better, while also reflecting on the Pakistan clash and the areas where they fell short.
“Yes. I think we could have done better with the bat,” she said. “We struggled to build partnerships and rotate the strike, which put us under pressure and made it difficult to chase the target [against Pakistan].”
On September 17, Thailand will face Pakistan once again, but this time in Japan in the Asian Games quarter-final. Talking about the game, she said they would learn from the recent defeat and come up with better plans.
“Yes, we’re confident. We’ll learn from this game and come up with better plans for the Asian Games.”
Lastly, Khoncharoenkai sounded proud while sharing her feelings about being Thailand’s highest WT20I run-getter and having played the most WT20I matches (145) for the country so far. In fact, she was Thailand’s highest run-getter in the recent Asia Cup, scoring 68 runs.
“I’m proud of my journey and grateful to represent Thailand,” she said. “I’ll always do my best for the team and my country.”
For More Exciting Articles: Follow RevSportz
The post “Deepti Sharma is a very smart spinner”: Nannapat Khoncharoenkai on her gritty 41 against India and the Asian Games challenge appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.
Comments
Post a Comment