CHENNAI: As India women gear up for their first match of the Women's T20 Asia Cup against Thailand on Sunday, head coach Amol Muzumdar felt the team is well-prepared for the challenge in Dubai and the Asian Games test that followed.
Coming off a poor T20 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stages, India women will be focusing on hitting the reset button and taking the team forward from hereon. The Mumbaikar said that the 15-day camp the team had in the BCCI Centre of Excellence ahead of the tournament.
"We had a fantastic camp at the Centre of Excellence. A 15-day camp which was well taken care of by the strength and conditioning coaches. We worked really hard on our fitness. We worked terribly hard on the fielding part as well. There are some scope of improvement and we're trying to pay utmost attention to those minute details of certain aspects of the game. As far as I'm concerned, as a coach, I was really happy with the camp and the results of the camp. The preparation has been good. It's just about going out there and executing our plans," Muzumdar said on Saturday.
The coach, while declining to confirm whether Pratika Rawal would walk in at No 3 in place of injured Jemimah Rodrigues, said that the latter will be missed. "I have always maintained that she is a clutch player for us. She will definitely be missed, but having said that, her recovery is very important for us. Her rehab is well taken care of at the Centre of Excellence in Bangalore. I think she will be missed, but there are some other players who have come in the team and I'm sure they'll do well," he said, before adding, "We haven't discussed the XI. But whoever is there in the XV, they should be ready to play in the XI."
With the conditions in Dubai hot and humid, India spinners will be crucial, especially the likes of Deepti Sharma and NR Sree Charani. "We have got a variety of spinners on this side. Looking forward to it. They should be up and running. In a couple of sessions, we have seen that the pitches have got a little bit of help for the spinners as well. So, I guess some good signs for us," said Muzumdar.