2017 ICC Women’s World Cup: Mithali Raj Puts Faith On Spinners To Perform Well

Jun 11, 2017 at 1:19 PM

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2017 ICC Women’s World Cup: Mithali Raj Puts Faith On Spinners To Perform Well

Mithali Raj, the captain of the Indian women’s team, has stated that the team will be heavily dependent on its spinners going into the ICC Women’s World Cup being held in England & Wales, starting June 24 onwards.

The team is heading into the World Championships after a victorious quadrangular series in South Africa that saw several records being rewritten by Indian players. Punam Raut and Deepti Sharma’s 300 run stand was a first in women’s ODIs. Former captain Jhulan Goswami also became the leading wicket-taker during the series.

With most teams targeting 300 plus scores in the 50-over format, it has become important to pick up wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs to keep the opposition in check. The point can be capsulized by the fact that the Indian spin trio of Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma have all been among the wickets this year.

“Honestly everybody prefers to have extra fast bowlers in the side,” Mithali told reporters in Mumbai on the eve of the team’s departure. “But India have always banked on spinners, irrespective of the wicket. Whether in Australia, South Africa (or elsewhere), spinners have done exceptionally well. The fast bowlers have been doing well in the past two series as well,” she added.

“We definitely want to win the World Cup. It is a great platform to show the kind of cricket the girls have been playing for the past couple of years. We are experienced players and we share our experience with the players. Now that it is the World Cup, a few seniors are aware of the pressure. We can be there for the juniors during the pressure situations. As senior players, we can be around them.The format is also different this time in this edition. It’s a league-cum-knockout and is a long tour. I want the girls to take it one match at a time. Our first step would be to get into the last-four,” said the veteran cricketer.Mithali said the toss could become crucial when asked about the weather playing the dictator’s role in shaping matches; like seen in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.

“It’s early summer there and chances of rain are very much there, so toss is going to play a very important role.We will see how we shuffle our batting order. And wickets are also important. But I am not able to say right now how we are going to prepare in those conditions. We already have witnessed (in the men’s Champions Trophy) how teams are posting 300-plus targets in good sunlight conditions. We will also hope to get such days for our matches,” said Mithali.

India will play two warm-up games against New Zealand (June 19) and Sri Lanka (June 21) ahead of their opening round-robin fixture against England on June 24. India then plays West Indies (June 29), Pakistan (July 2), Sri Lanka (July 5), South Africa (July 8), Australia (July 12) and New Zealand (July 15).

Four teams will qualify for the semifinals. The final will be played at the Lord’s on July 23.

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