For a long time, Indian women cricket team’s batting revolved around skipper Mithali Raj. But ‘the highest run-getter’ in women’s One Day International (ODI) believes the team has players like Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur who are capable of leading India to winning matches.
In an interview posted by BCCI on their website, Mithali talks about preparations for the ICC Women’s World T20.
“I have always felt that the team should not be dependent on one player. A team needs to have at least four-five of them who are match-winners. I can see that we have developed that in our team now,” Raj told in a bcci.tv in an interview.
Important to put our best standard of cricket for people to watch and develop that interest which we had during the World Cup – @M_Raj03, Captain India Women’s ODI Team.
Watch the full interview on https://t.co/TLpNbyAHgY pic.twitter.com/AiLhg8QeqW
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 21, 2018
In the third T20I, viewers once again witnessed India’s strong batting line-up collapsing. Visitors lost five wickets in just 14 balls.
“What needs work on is the lower-order to contribute with the bat. It is not that the [top-order] batters will score the runs in every game. Yes, the top-order needs to score a bulk of the runs but sometimes, the tail needs to contribute more.”
Mithali also praises India’s top order batswomen for their performance, saying: “We have very good batters for the T20 format. Harman and Veda [Krishnamurthy] can clear the fence. And Smriti has been consistently scoring runs in both formats.”
“Spinners have a lot of work as the wickets are conducive for high-scoring contests. The team is in the mould of preparing for the T20 World Cup,” the Indian ODI skipper added.
“Youngsters make the dressing room atmosphere lively – experience matters but you need young blood in the squad. Raw talent also helps.”
“Since the matches are televised or live streamed, it matters what the kind of standards you set, especially in terms of fielding. It is important every player turn their thoughts more professional.”
“After South Africa, we play Australia and England, who are quality opponents. They have a lot of quality players in their side. Having done well, playing them [Australia and England] is an exciting challenge. It is important that I continue to score runs for the team,” Mithali Raj concluded.