Women's Asia Cup 2022: "Why do you want to give that one chance and throw your wicket away?"- Anjum Chopra on India's Smriti Mandhana

Former Indian cricketer Anjum Chopra was disappointed with the way star batter Smriti Mandhana was dismissed in the Women's Asia Cup 2022 encounter against Sri Lanka on Saturday. The southpaw scored just six runs off seven balls and India couldn't get off to the best of starts.

Chopra explained why it was important for a player of Mandhana's stature to settle at the crease first and assess the conditions. The southpaw looked to be ultra-aggressive and ended up playing a poor shot.

Speaking in a video on her YouTube channel, here's what Chopra had to say about the Indian vice-captain's dismissal:

"Smriti Mandhana played a shot in haste. There was no need to play that shot and let the opposition take advantage. When India toured Sri Lanka in July, there were similar conditions. So it would have been better had she given herself more time. In international cricket, why do you want to give that one chance and throw your wicket away?"

Full marks for trying: Anjum Chopra on Indian opener Shafali Verma's knock

Mandhana's opening partner Shafali Verma also continued to struggle, scoring 10 runs off 11 balls. However, Anjum Chopra observed that the swashbuckling right-hander was trying to adjust to the conditions and the pitch by taking singles and waiting for the right opportunity to cut loose.

Although it didn't work out well in the end, the former cricketer hailed Verma for trying something that didn't come naturally to her. She stated:

"Shafali Verma struggled a bit to time the ball on that pitch because it didn't have enough pace in it for her to play her natural shots through the line. But at least she was trying to knock the ball around and bat deep. So full marks for her for trying, but it was just not good enough."

Anjum Chopra also congratulated Jemimah Rodrigues for an incredible 76(53) on her comeback. Rodrigues was out with injury for over a month, but that didn't seem to affect her form. On this, Chopra added:

"Jemimah Rodrigues played a brilliant knock, not just because she got the runs, but also because of the way she constructed her innings. Front foot, back foot, punches, it didn't even look like she was away from the game for more than a month."

Women's Asia Cup squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sabbineni Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Sneh Rana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, K.P. Navgire.

Standby players: Taniya Sapna Bhatia, Simran Dil Bahadur.