At the business end of the league phase of the ICC Women’s World Cup, the race for a spot in the semi-finals is heading for a tight finish. India Women, who are No 3 in the points table on the basis of net run rate, will take on No 2 placed Australia Women in their penultimate game of the stage.
While India come into the game after a loss to South Africa, Australia lost to England in a thrilling encounter. Reflecting on India’s position, she said, “Losing the game against South Africa puts us in a very difficult situation. Australia are one of the best sides in the world. But if we play as a team and if we round up all the concerned areas, I am sure there is a far better possibility that we can win the game. But again, it depends largely on how we pull ourselves from the last defeat and play the best cricket that we can.”
Discussing the opponents and their spin attack, Mithali said, “Not just the spinners, Australia is one team which is quite rounded in all departments. They have good variation in their bowling attack, they have depth in their batting order so as a team they look a very compact side.”
Analysing India’s run in the tournament she said, “We started well, but we have not been consistent in the way that we would want to play in the tournament. The first two games have been very good for the team, but we didn’t look anywhere close to that brand of cricket (we wanted to play) against Sri Lanka or Pakistan. We dipped hugely in the game against South Africa, but again it is just a matter of few players coming back into form and getting some runs under their belt. The bowlers definitely have been doing well in all the games, so it is important that we post a total which we have not been doing that well in the last three games.”
Elaborating on the brand of cricket India looks to play, Mithali said, “I would say fearless brand of cricket, because now the standard of women’s cricket is that 200 is not a target that we would want to post. We definitely are looking to post in excess of 250 and for that you need to bat; you need to have your top-order getting those runs. If you are playing Australia and are aiming to beat them, it requires us to be at our best in all departments. Australia has been consistently at the top so it requires more than what we have done in the last games. Looking forward to the game game, we (have to) perform far better not just better, but the best that we have as players. We need to perform tomorrow.
“It is important that team needs to understand that if we qualify for the semis, it’s a huge thing for Indian women’s team. That’s our immediate and first goal,” she mentioned.
Asked about the pressures of also her impending record (34 runs away from becoming the highest run scorer in Women’s ODI) the batter said, “Even getting into the tournament that was never my intent or purpose to be here. As a captain and a player, I look forward that the team does well; we perform better than the last edition. I have never really chased milestones. When you have a long career, it is a part of your career. I am not looking at getting that milestone, but yes, I am looking to score runs, I don’t know how much I would end up scoring in the tournament but I would want runs to flow from my bat.”
