Heather Knight explains how England outfoxed India against the odds in Indore

India Today

Women's World Cup: England's Heather Knight believes that India were under immense pressure to win the World Cup fixture in Indore. Knight said that England's plan was to take the game deep and put pressure on India by picking wickets.

Transcript

00:00Hello Superb Knock. What were the conditions like when you were batting and it almost felt

00:08as if England had taken a misstep at the toss by batting first because the track even in the

00:13second half under lights seemed to play better. Was it true or was it wrong? Yeah I think potentially.

00:19I think at the start probably like a little bit more bounce and a little bit stoppy sort

00:23of like tennis ball. Obviously not the turn that we've been used to in Colombo and Guwahati and

00:28it felt like the best batting track that we played on. It felt like a lot more options were on.

00:33It felt like I could accelerate through my innings. I just got myself in and then felt like I put the

00:37foot down a lot more easily than in the conditions we potentially played at. It did start to get a

00:43little bit easier towards the back end of my innings I think whether that was a pitch or because I was

00:47in not too sure but yeah I was obviously frustrated when I got out the way I did because I felt like

00:53if we had a set battle we would have pushed that up to sort of 315-320 which would have been well

00:58above par I think on that wicket. In the chase with India needing a runnable 57 what were the chats

01:05chats among your teammates in the middle? What was the mood like because it seemed as if again

01:10India were in control with Smriti looking good, Deepthi having a strong partnership as well. What

01:15was the chat and please take us through the turnaround as well after that? Just quite calm I think. Like it

01:21was a pitch as you saw with our back end that it was quite hard to start and score straight away so

01:25we felt like if we could take a wicket and and ramp the pressure up obviously um huge pressure on

01:30India to to do well in this match and yeah sometimes just taking it deep and just trying to um trust

01:36what we're trying to do as a group. I thought Lindsay Smith was outstanding as well held her nerve

01:40brilliantly she had a really good day at the office despite only picking up um I think one wicket in

01:44the end she had a brilliant day um but yeah just just very calm just trying to do the basics really

01:49well trying to um not let them get too many boundaries and and squeeze when we we had the

01:54opportunity to and we knew if we took it deep then um hopefully we could flip things around and

01:59yeah things changed pretty quickly didn't they and managed to steal the the win at the back end.

02:03hi hi hi fantastic hundred today and congratulations on the win uh sweeping and just working the ball

02:14behind the square seemed like a very conscious part of your game today uh was it something that you

02:20pre-planned or was it something that you like sort of figured on the on the day on the field reading

02:26the bowlers and how have you sort of developed this sweeping habit of late uh into your game just

02:34like if you could give us a yeah it was a productive shot for me today i just felt like

02:40the threat with a little bit of hold in the wicket it felt like i was finding it quite hard to hit down

02:44the ground and obviously India packed the sort of um fielders on the leg side in front so i felt like

02:49it was a bit of a risk at times hitting down the ground felt like i might chip a cap so yeah i just just

02:54felt like my suite was working and obviously the reverse is a shot that i'm really comfortable

02:57playing and um i was left the gap and just felt like it was on today and um sometimes it's not

03:04always the conditions but when a shot's working for you on a certain day just sticking with that and

03:08it seemed to to work out quite well and yeah more just like around minute play team fields and things

03:12like that is um it's something that i have in my locker and something that i work really hard on

03:17particularly against offspin and when we're in turning conditions albeit it didn't turn as much today but

03:22because of the conditions we've been in i've been working pretty hard on trying to sweep online and

03:26trying to use my different sweeps to to manipulate the field so yeah it was a i don't know the percentage

03:31of runs scored through a day but it felt like quite a lot but um yeah it was just working for me and um

03:35just felt like a go-to and just to follow up on that you're coming on the back of a hamstring injury

03:42and uh you know i know it's been a few games since you've made your comeback but you know in a hot

03:50day when you're batting first in a hot day like this and then sweeping becomes such an important

03:55aspect of your game how did you go did you did you like sort of find it a bit of a struggle given

04:02the conditions how how did you cope in the middle with in a long innings like that yeah good actually

04:08the the bodies sound out really really good trusting in the work that i've obviously done

04:12during that rehab and obviously trying to stay as fit as i can through the competition and do what i

04:17i need to do but um yeah compared to colombo and guwahati it felt pretty cold today actually

04:23it was quite nice not to have to change my gloves about six times i only changed them about three

04:27times so um yeah a little bit cooler and um help that obviously had a lot of boundaries and things

04:33like that but yeah but i'm tired but body feels pretty good and and holding up pretty nicely so

04:37yeah it's good that obviously the the work that i've put in during that rehab and

04:41there's obviously pretty tight to get here so pretty pleased with um how things are holding up and i'm

04:45i'm pretty pain free which is quite nice excellent go i just a little bit of follow-up to that

05:00if you could go back to may 29th i think that was a day you knew what the diagnosis on your injury was

05:07if you just go back to that day what you were feeling and to what you're feeling today how

05:11satisfying is that journey and how good does it feel to be able to contribute so well to the team's

05:17cause today with the century just what does this mean to you yeah really please like um like i've

05:23had a pretty rubbish year not gonna lie before this world cup so i was really keen to try and make the

05:28most of it and try and enjoy just being here because obviously it's pretty tight to make it here so

05:33yeah i've made a real conscious effort to try and enjoy the trip and try and enjoy what i do and try and

05:38get the best out of myself in my batting through that enjoyment and just just being happy to be

05:43here really because i think sometimes you take it for granted when you you're kind of on the treadmill

05:47of international cricket and when you do get injured you you kind of have that bit of time to to kind

05:51of reflect and and realize like how fun it is and and the opportunities that you do get and i'm really

05:56keen to try and make the most of the opportunities during this world cup and obviously try and contribute

06:01as much as i can to to the team being successful but yeah that was a pretty awful day to be honest when i

06:06obviously felt my hamstring uh rip off that was not that fun so yeah to be here now and obviously

06:12uh to be over that injury and and to be contributing to the team being successful and obviously in the

06:16semi-finals now the world cup is is a cool place to be so um yeah nice to nice to be here and do well

06:24our snc coach will um will really dislike if i mentioned pilates so i probably should mention pilates

06:29yeah it's all down to pilates lots of pilates lots of swimming

06:32hi heather congratulations on the win and great knock of course um heather um the last time india

06:40played uh england uh england obviously lost uh you were not part of the series then but uh do you notice

06:46a massive change in the conversations in the dressing room after what needed to be fixed you know what

06:51were the conversations between nat and uh charlotte as to what needed to be fixed against india and what

06:57do you think worked um and just in general how do you maybe your take on the leadership or you know

07:03the beginning of you know uh the charlotte edwards and nat civil brand era what what's your take on it

07:09yeah like obviously it wasn't around huge amount for for the the series in the summer i was

07:14commentating on a few games and watching obviously um as much as i could so can't really comment too much

07:19on that but i think i think the big thing is is trying to take accountability particularly as a batting

07:24group i think um that's something that that we really want to do as a batting group as a as a top

07:28sort of five and six want to really get the bulk of the run so obviously yeah really keen to do that

07:33today and um when it's our day as a batters we want to try and really go big and really take responsibility

07:39and and get the team to a to a good total so um yeah that was certainly at the forefront of my mind

07:45today and kind of how you go about that is slightly different like i need to be free and to be quite

07:49um proactive and always looking to score to enable me to do that but just yeah trying to take that

07:54accountability i think is is a theme i guess that's running through the dressing room

08:04hi uh you have anchored a lot of innings for england around the 180 mark what kind of concrete

08:10adjustment uh tactical or mental do you need to make in yourself to push it to above 300 310 and 320 mark

08:17yeah like um like i said i was frustrated when i got out because i felt like a set battle was really

08:21important at the back end of the innings to really push us above 300 um i feel like we set a brilliant

08:27platform probably didn't um like have the best back end that we wanted i think um i can't remember the

08:33figures were six seven and over that sort of thing with a few wickets down so yeah i think something

08:38we'll we'll look at i think there's still things we can do a lot better as a team which is really

08:42exciting we're we're still unbeaten and um bar the first game probably against south africa we haven't

08:47had that perfect game so i think there's a lot of things we can still do better which is

08:50is a cool place to be like we're still winning and there's and lots of different people contributing

08:54so yeah we'll certainly look at the match and probably in hindsight we we probably should have

08:58got up to that sort of 315 which would have made it really hard um for india um in their batting and

09:03so they would have to be a bit more aggressive early i think so um yeah we'll look at that and

09:08and obviously try and improve for the next game but um yeah nicely to get used to these conditions

09:12obviously um having played at three different venues now the conditions have varied quite a lot

09:17so um yeah it's quite a quite a test and and like a cool challenge as players to to learn to adapt to

09:23the different conditions you're in so we'll obviously have more insight um playing australia

09:27in indoor having played a game here um whenever that game is two that three days time which is

09:34wednesday i don't even know what day is what is it sunday sunday cool thanks

09:40hi heather first of all many congratulations on the win and really well played today my

09:44question to you is regarding lindsay smith like since this world cup when she took four for

09:48against south africa she has grown leaps and bounds and in this game against india she took on the last

09:53over 14 runs defended it really well so just want to know your take on lindsay smith and her

09:58growth in this competition so far yeah i think she's grown in confidence i think she keeps things

10:04really simple she knows what she does really well and um just delivers it really and obviously she's

10:09taking the new ball for us which is like a different role for her in one day cricket albeit

10:13she does it a lot in in t20 so yeah here's some someone that gives control like you know what you're

10:19going to get quite often from lynn's um she's skinny she keeps the stumps in the game um and she's

10:25quite smart with her little changes of pace and obviously changed the angle at the back end there

10:28coming around and things like that so yeah she's a candy little bowler and really competitive as

10:32well so yeah she's doing a brilliant job for us and um i thought she was outstanding today really

10:37sort of chilled under pressure and um yeah took some some big overs obviously taking that wicket of

10:43smithy was a real key one to to get her out that sort of opened the door for us to to try and win the

10:48match so um yeah that was a a real turning point i think uh heather just one on behalf of one of

10:54the journalists at home um 300th game for england's uh your third odi turn your quickest odi turn

11:01obviously after that injury layoff that has been mentioned already how does today rank for you from

11:04a personal um personal kind of milestone perspective yes up there i think um obviously like personal

11:12milestones are cool but i think the biggest thing today i don't really like the attention of being quite

11:17quite desperate to get the win and obviously qualify so it was a really important game for us

11:22under pressure as well like playing india at home and in front of a cool crowd and um yeah it's quite

11:27strange when you hit runs and there's literally dead silence so um yeah i think it's a pretty special day

11:34i think be nice to go and celebrate with everyone and have a drink and reflect and um yeah let's start

11:40of the day i was just i really wanted to make a contribution i think obviously 200 caps is nice but um i still

11:45want to be contributing and and helping the team win games of cricket so yeah it's pretty chuffed that

11:49happened today cool thanks we'll end it there everyone thanks very much

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