As Indian women cricketers start on their Australia campaign with their first one-dayer in Mackay on Tuesday, coach Ramesh Powar and captain Mithali Raj have made it clear that while doing well against the hosts is the primary aim, their bigger goal is to use the matches to gain experience and polish up their skills ahead of the Women’s World Cup next year.
“Moving towards the World Cup as a group, batting unit, bowling unit, we have set some targets. We want to score consistently over 250. And we are planning towards that. In bowling, we are trying to get opponents all out, so we are trying to use Jhulan Goswami as the experienced bowler who can give us good openings in front,” Powar said.
“We are definitely looking at the combinations for the World Cup, and we will be giving a little more game time to the players to fit into those roles, that’s our objective in the series. Playing against the best side before the World Cup, it is the best preparation that we can get,” said Mithali.
Australia Women are on a 22-match inning streak in ODIs.
Mithali also said that if team’s batters perform as per expectations, she might contemplate moving up the batting order to No.3 from No.4.
Harmanpreet Kaur, senior player, will not play the first ODI owing to a thumb injury.
“She was declared fit. She was selected for this tour, but unfortunately, some days back she got a hit on the thumb, and she is not available for the first ODI,” coach Powar said. “And for the next ODI, will take a call, according to her pain management.”
Earlier, the Indian women’s cricket team suffered a 36-run loss in a 50-over warm-up match in Brisbane on Saturday. Opener Rachael Haynes, Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning smashed individual fifties as Australia displayed 278 for nine after batting first. India managed 242 for seven in their 50 overs with Pooja Vastrakar emerging as the top-scorer.
