“I bowl dot balls when…”: Renuka Thakur on her partnership with Pooja Vastrakar

Dambulla [Sri Lanka], July 27 (ANI): Following India’s win over Bangladesh in the semifinal of the women’s Asia Cup, pacer Renuka Thakur opened up on her bowling partnership with pacer Pooja Vastrakar.

Renuka Singh’s pace and blazing knock from vice-captain Smriti Mandhana allowed India to punch their ticket for the final of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024. India registered a resounding 10-wicket win over Bangladesh on Friday. Electing to bat first, Bangladesh could make just 80/8 in 20 overs, with skipper Nigar Sultana (32) top scoring.

Renuka (3/10) and Radha Yadav (3/14) were the top bowlers for India. Smriti Mandhana (55) and Shafali Varma (26) chased the total in just 11 overs without breaking a sweat.

Speaking about her partnership with Vastrakar, which has been successful for India in the white-ball cricket of late and has helped them get early wickets, Renuka said that there is great understanding between them. As they look for wickets, they also put pressure on batters by delivering dot balls and forcing the batters to play poor shots.

“It is quite simple, actually. If she is picking up wickets, I aim to keep bowling dot balls [to keep up the pressure] from my end. And if I am picking up wickets from my end, she tries to bowl dot balls. So that is how we develop our partnership,” she said, as quoted by the ICC.

Renuka said that the aim is to win the final against Sri Lanka, which will take place on Sunday.

She also mentioned how she factored in the wind during her spell of 3/10 in four overs.

“Sometimes the wind can be a bit of a challenge. It also helped me at times, but perhaps the wind was too strong (during the match),” she said.

“I wanted to pitch in the right area to make the best use of this wind,” she added.

Her game-changing spell also helped her to move to 50 T20I wickets, making her just the eighth Indian woman to achieve the landmark. However, the player wasn’t aware of the feat till it was brought to her notice at the press conference. With 130 wickets in 116 matches, Deepti Sharma is India’s top T20I wicket-taker.

“Actually, I was not aware of the fact that it was my 50th T20I wicket. Obviously, I am very happy after contributing to my country’s cause,” she concluded.