'Shafali and I have a huge role to play' at the T20 WC - Mandhana

After failing to give India a strong start in the T20I series against England, which they lost 2-1 on Tuesday, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has placed the onus on herself and her opening partner Shafali Verma to prepare the team for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Mandhana and Shafali had opening partnerships of 19, 27 and 0 in the three games but Mandhana believes the two have a "huge role to play going forward" as India look to add the T20 World Cup trophy to their cabinet after winning the ODI World Cup at home in November last year. "For me and Shifu, we are definitely timing the ball well but unfortunately we are not able to contribute in big ways for the team," Mandhana said after the third T20I, which India lost by six wickets. "But for both of us, we'll go back in the nets, keep working hard and make sure we come back stronger as an opening pair because both of us pride ourselves to give good starts and keep the momentum going. But unfortunately we could not do that in this series. We'll take it in our stride and try and work hard. "It's definitely a good idea to come early and play a series in England before the World Cup in terms of preparation." Shafali's average in the series was 11.66, but she had a much better strike rate, 152.17, compared to Mandhana's 114.28, and Mandhana had a high score of 32. Only in the second match, in Bristol, did they both contribute, with Mandhana scoring 32 off 25 and Shafali scoring 22 off 14 in a chase for 169 runs before India fell 26 runs short thanks to a collapse of 7 for 32. Some of the better takeaways for India from the series was the form of Yastika Bhatia on return from injury, as she finished as the top run-scorer across teams with 119 runs, with one half-century. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur also scored an unbeaten 56 off 40 in the decider on Tuesday, but India's 180 for 5 against England was insufficient. Mandhana praised her captain, stating, "She batted amazingly well today." "Harman, when she is at her best, it is a sight to watch. She played all over the field today, a crucial innings under pressure, especially when we needed that run to get to more than 180. Really happy. Simply put, I believe everyone is in excellent condition. Jemi [Jemimah Rodrigues], Harman, and everyone else are all looking really beautiful to watch from the outside, which is positive going forward for the World Cup. Hopefully, I can watch from the non-striker's end." India weren't too far from a series win on Tuesday as they reduced England to 38 for 3 while defending 180, but Alice Capsey and Heather Knight put on a 137-run stand for the fourth wicket that took England home with nine balls to spare. "We definitely started extremely well with the ball, 35 [38] for 3. "However, I wouldn't really change anything about their partnership," Mandhana stated. "I believe they made very effective cricketing shots. They played all around the ground. With hindsight, we could have used a few dots to create pressure, but we were unable to do so. "As I said, for all of us, we will definitely look at this game in a way where we can do better and not repeat these mistakes in the World Cup coming ahead. We'll go back to the drawing board with our bowling to see if there are better options. We did that prior to this series, so maybe we can do it again. Now that we know the conditions and the balls that need to be bowled, we can try again. I am confident that many of our players will benefit from those two or three things." India's opening match of the T20 World Cup is against Pakistan on June 14 in Birmingham. They are in Group 1 with Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands. Prior to the start of the tournament, they will also play two warm-up matches against the West Indies on June 8 and England on June 10. Mandhana stated, "India-Pakistan doesn't need hype." "We did play India-Pakistan at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and [it was] sold out. Not just India-Pakistan, but also the T20 World Cup, in my opinion. We don't need to [do it for India vs Pakistan]; it's already hyped up. I am sure a lot of people are going to come and support us. Hopefully, we can put up a show for them."