A convincing T20I series win against England has boosted the Indian women’s cricket team’s morale. Now, as it gears up for the three-match ODI series, beginning in Southampton on Wednesday, the team will be hoping to keep the momentum going.
With just a couple of months left for the Women’s ODI World Cup, to be held in India and Sri Lanka, the series against England will be crucial for the team to get its combination right. In fact, former India captain Mithali Raj believes that the team management should not shuffle its core players in the lead-up to the marquee event.
“It’s good that we won a T20 series in England. They will now be playing three ODIs from next week, and we will have to ensure that our core players are not shuffled too much,” Mithali, who was at Lord’s on Sunday to ring the ceremonial bell ahead of the fourth day’s play of the third Test between the men’s teams of India and England, told Sportstar.
Having closely followed the women’s team’s 3-2 win in the T20I series, Mithali said, “(We need to ensure) they get to play in the roles that you envision that they will play in the World Cup. We should ideally put them into those roles from the upcoming ODI series itself, so that they have enough time to prepare themselves individually. As a team, you’re always having those camps and getting it going, but individual preparation as players is also important. If they understand their roles well, it helps in their own preparation.”
With Renuka Singh Thakur undergoing a rehabilitation programme at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, India has been without its key bowler in England. Mithali believes that the bowling unit needs more attention ahead of the World Cup.
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“We need to work or probably give more thought to our bowling unit, whether it’s fast bowlers or spinners, because they are going to be very important,” she said.
“You may put runs on the board, but you also need to take wickets, which sometimes you’re not able to manage. If there is a long partnership, we are unable to break that. That is one aspect where the Indian team can actually focus on and see if they can find some bowlers to do that work,” Mithali added.
Even though India has fared well in the bilateral series, it has failed to break the jinx in an ICC event. Despite reaching the final on quite a few occasions, the team has failed to clear the line. And this time, with the World Cup set to be held at home, the expectations will be sky-high. That’s where mental toughness will come into play.
“Playing a bilateral series and playing a World Cup are two different things altogether. In a bilateral series, you’re playing one opponent time and again. So, you know the first game didn’t go well, so you learn from it and prepare better because it’s the same opponent, same team, same players.
“But in the World Cup, you have different teams, different venues, and different plans and strategies. It changes from match to match, and it’s also a fact that playing a World Cup at home is very different from playing a World Cup anywhere else,” Mithali said.
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Having followed the Women’s Premier League closely, earlier this year, Mithali believes that the experience of playing out close matches, which was the norm in the tournament, will help the players prepare better for the ICC event.
“The girls are aware of those very close games. That should probably help them. In fact, there is no other way. If you’re going to constantly be in a situation where there are tight games, you should find a way to get out of it. So, I’m sure they will at some point,” she said.
For long, fielding has been an area of concern for India, costing it dearly in multiple big-ticket events. But in the T20Is against England, things have improved significantly, and Mithali believes that when a team starts well in one area, it rubs off onto the other departments, too.
“When you start off a series well, that feel-good thing works on all your skills—be it bowling or fielding. If your bowling is good, it sort of rubs off onto your fielding as well. So, they have done the batting well, and that has rubbed off onto the bowling and the fielding,” Mithali said.
“But the question arises when you falter, how do you come back? Because we’ve seen in the past that when you falter in one department, then that also rubs off, and you end up with poor fielding. It’s not like the girls have never done good fielding. And they’re not a bad fielding side. In fact, I’ve always said that they are good fielding side. It’s just that if they focus on doing one particular department well and just be there, I think that actually lifts the overall performance automatically. So, the starter always works,” she added.
