NAVI MUMBAI: Aiming to prepare for the
T20 World Cup
later this year, the Indian women’s team will look to quickly brush off it’s ODI 3-0 whitewash at the hands of a rampaging Australia when it meet the same opponents in a three-T20I series starting on Friday.
However, bouncing back against the multiple times world champions won’t be easy —Australia enjoy a 23-7 record in 31 women’s T20Is against India, and beat the hosts 4-1 in a T20I series last year.
One of the big worries for the India women’s team this season has been the poor form of skipper
Harmanpreet Kaur
, who has got out for six singledigit scores in her last nine innings across formats, with her top score being 49.
Talking to reporters, Kaur said she had been unlucky at times, while revealing that she had spent extra time at the nets in a bid to recover her touch.
“At times it happens. I am getting good starts, but somehow I am not being able to convert them into big scores. I feel even luck plays a key role because I got out in a weird manner a couple of times.The next three games are very important. If I can score runs, it will be good for the team,” she said.
Kaur denied that her team was a bit fatigued after going through their busiest home season ever, which involves two Tests, six T20Is and three ODIs, all in a month's time.
“I do not think because as cricketers, if we are not playing international cricket, we are practicing. I do not think it is too much cricket, but if we look back at the (last) one month there has been only one game in which we were not up to the mark. Otherwise, we have played very good cricket. Everyone is excited for the T20I series,” the Indian captain said.
The biggest area of concern in this series for India has been their fielding, with their butter-fingered fielders having spilled nine catches in the last two ODIs.
Kaur felt that India’s fielding coach Munish Bali needed time to make a difference in this area.
“Fielding and fitness are something that we have been talking about for a long time. We have been working on it,” she said.
Meanwhile, having dominated India in the ODIs, the Australian women’s team is in no mood to take its foot off the pedal.
“We speak about that a lot in our meetings (about) being ruthless — when we’re on top — we like to keep doing that and not let it slip,” Australian leg-spinner Georgia Wareham said.
English (US) ·