Women's World Cup: Wanted to give Shafali a break to bring in consistent Yastika, says Powar

India head coach Ramesh Powar on Friday said the plan was to give an out-of-form Shafali Verma a break and bring in a consistent Yastika Bhatia during their match against New Zealand in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup. He added that having three left-handed batters at top three is something which the think-tank will try to address in future.

In order to solve their top-order batting issue, India drafted Yastika in place of a struggling Shafali, who was out for a six-ball duck against Pakistan. It meant that India had an all-left top-order in Yastika, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma.

But that didn't help as Yastika, opening in ODIs for the first time, struggled to get going against a tight New Zealand bowling attack and was out for 28 in the 20th over. Smriti and Deepti, on the other hand, fell in the first 10 overs against New Zealand.

"Honestly, Shafali was not in greatest of form when you see the last New Zealand series. We wanted to give her a break, and bring in Yastika who was consistent with her batting performances. I don't think three left-handers in a row makes a difference in every match. But going forward yes, we are going to look at it tactically," said Powar in the pre-match virtual press conference.