I See No Reason Why India Cannot Win Champions Trophy Next Year: Poonam Yadav

India cruised to a commanding nine-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the second T20I to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in Raipur. Speaking on JioStar’s ‘Cricket Live’, JioStar experts Reema Malhotra and Poonam Yadav shared their thoughts on Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana’s match-winning opening partnership, Mandhana’s captaincy, and the team’s preparations for the upcoming ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027.

"Whenever Shafali Verma gets off to a good start with the bat, you immediately see the opposition get on the back foot. She puts that pressure on the bowlers and when she is playing a typical Shafali Verma knock, the middle order gets the freedom to bat without pressure. Smriti, on the other hand, plays the role of the anchor because she knows that Shafali will take care of the quick scoring, which balances out the way India bat. One major change that we have seen in Shafali's batting is that she is not just a powerplay batter like before. Even after the end of the first six overs, this new version of Shafali bats with responsibility. She has changed her mindset and is putting a price on her wicket. For me, that is the most important thing. And in T20I cricket, I would rate her as the number one batter right now."

"I am really liking the way Smriti is captaining this Indian side. The way she's managing the players and getting them to play the way she wants is really good to watch. She doesn't stick to one fixed template. She reads the game and makes her own decisions. She gave Nandni Sharma the new ball, used Niki Prasad in the death overs to make the youngster learn how to handle the pressure, and when the Zimbabwe batters looked like they would find a way to come back into the match, she brought on Shafali Verma into the attack to slow things down. It shows that she’s not scared of the pressure that comes with the Indian team’s captaincy. I have always liked the way she has led RCB and she is putting all her WPL captaincy experience to good use for the Indian team."

"The discipline and clarity with which the Indian pacers bowled in this second T20I was really impressive. It is not just about wickets. What matters more is the areas you bowl in, how you set traps for the batters, and whether you can execute what you set out to do. That clarity was evident in the Indian fast bowlers' performance. But a lot of work still needs to be done, because this series against Zimbabwe are the semester exams for the Indian team, the upcoming Tour of South Africa is going to be the pre-board and the Women's Champions Trophy is your board exams. So, they will need to continue bowling in the right areas and continue outfoxing the batters with variations, because if they don't do that, then they will be punished, especially in a tournament like the Women's Champions Trophy. Consistency is going to be the key."

"This dominating and commanding victory of India in this second T20I against Zimbabwe shows that they did their homework in the right manner. They made a lot of mistakes in the first match of the series and that was okay because these players were playing for the first time against Zimbabwe and they were not really familiar with their bowlers. But coming into the second match of this series, it was important for the Indian team to learn from their mistakes and they did exactly that. They didn't repeat the mistakes and that is the sign of a team being led by a good captain. Smriti failed to get going with the bat in the last match, but in the second T20I, she used all her experience and made the Zimbabwe bowlers pay for their mistakes. She used her feet well, utilised the depth of the crease and forged an excellent partnership with Shafali. If India keeps improving like this game after game, then I see no reason why they cannot go on to win the Champions Trophy next year."

"Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma have become the pillars of Indian batting. A good batting pair in T20 Internationals have the ability to score not just through power, but also through timing. These two do exactly that. They bat as per the demands of the situation, which makes batting look easy and doesn't give the opposition bowlers a chance to dominate them. In the previous game, both Shafali and Smriti got dismissed early, but in this match, they were having none of that, as both of them played good knocks, built a strong partnership, and set the platform for the run chase. The way this partnership was stitched by Smriti and Shafali, that hunger was evident in them, that ‘We had made a mistake in the last match, but we won't give you the chance to dismiss us cheaply every time.’"