CHENNAI : After the high of salvaging a draw from a seemingly hopeless situation in the one-off Test, the focus of the Indian women’s team will now firmly shift towards one-day cricket. Over the course of the next week, they have three ODIs against defending 50-over World Cup champions England to help them gauge where they stand in the format around eight months away from the World Cup in New Zealand.
The players will concede that there is a pressing need for improvement after the team faced a 1-4 rout at the hands of South Africa at home in March. One of the glaring issues seemed to be a lack of firepower with the bat as the South Africans routinely chased down the modest totals that were posted on the board. Captain Mithali Raj — who completed 22 years in international cricket on Saturday — knows that the conditions in England will be very different to the pitches back home, but she admitted that the batters will have to be more positive in their outlook.
“The biggest thing we want from the team is a very strong mindset. We can’t really compare the SA series with this one as the conditions will be very different. But yes, we are looking to have a more positive approach when it comes to our batting. We have been working on our fielding as well. Our preparations for the World Cup have started. It is very important that we return to winning ways here after the loss against SA,” she said on the eve of the first ODI in Bristol.
The presence of Shafali Verma, who is in line for her ODI debut after being omitted for the series against South Africa, should aid the team in this regard. She is an inherently attacking batter and will ensure that the team gets off to a blazing start if she stays at the crease for any length of time.
“That’s how she plays. There will be times when she will give us a head start and we would love that to be consistent. At the same time, she is a young player and will learn with experience. She will learn how to build an innings with more matches. As captain, I am encouraging her to play the way she enjoys playing,” said the 38-year-old.
Although the conditions in England can tend to be similar to New Zealand and thereby offer good preparation for the World Cup, Mithali expects the surfaces in NZ to be a lot more batting-friendly.
“NZ is far windier than England. I wouldn’t say the conditions are similar in the two countries. I think the wickets in NZ are far better for batting. The last time we played in NZ, we had a good one-day series (India won 2-1),” she noted.