Ramesh Powar, India women head coach has emphatically stated World Cup preparation assumes top priority, and winning momentum from there will be the best possible preparation for the team’s maiden pink-ball Test in Australia. It’s not often that India head into a tour of Australia being better prepared than the hosts, whose last international assignment was against New Zealand in April.
In comparison, India first had a home series against South Africa in March followed by a two-month tour to the UK in the summer. The worsening Covid crisis in Australia has forced a major reshuffle of the venues for the Indian women’s team’s forthcoming tour Down Under.
Venue Of India Women’s One-Off Test Against Australia Women Shifted
The historic one-off pink-ball women’s Test between India and Australia, scheduled to begin from Sept 30, has been moved from the WACA in Perth to the Carrara Stadium (known commercially as the Metricon Stadium) in Gold Coast in Queensland.
According to reliable BCCI sources, the three-match ODI series between the two teams, which will kick off the tour from Sept 19, has now been moved from North Sydney Oval in Sydney to Mackay, a city in Queensland. The other two matches are supposed to be held on Sept 22 and 24.
Gold Coast, and not North Sydney Oval as initially planned, will now also host the T20Is after staging India’s maiden, much-anticipated pink-ball Test on Oct 7, 9, and 11. An official announcement regarding the revised itinerary of the tour is expected soon.
Australia is currently badly affected by Covid-19. The number of cases is constantly going up, which means no matches can be organized in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. All these cities are repeatedly going into lockdowns. This has forced Cricket Australia (CA) to move the ODI and T20I series out of Sydney to Mackay, and the pink ball Test from Perth to Gold Coast, which will also host the three T20Is now.
“However, this is also a tentative schedule, which CA has communicated to the BCCI. As per the altered schedule, the Indian team will fly tomorrow (Sunday) evening from Bangalore to Dubai in a chartered flight. From Dubai, the team will fly to Brisbane, where they will quarantine for two weeks before going to Mackay.”
“Everything is uncertain due to the concerning Covid situation in Australia. Let’s hope that the Covid situation doesn’t get worse in Australia, otherwise the tour itself may have to be called off even after the team reaches Australia,” reliable sources of BCCI said.
The Indian team underwent a camp in Bangalore in a bio-bubble. The five players who took part in ‘The Hundred’ in the UK will join the bubble on Sunday after a six-day quarantine. Ramesh Powar has said that despite the hype being built around the one-off pink-ball Test against Australia at the Gabba beginning September 30, the team’s main focus would be on the three-match ODI series keeping in mind the 2022 World Cup in March next year.
Ramesh Powar: India Women Prepared For Any Format And Happy To Tour Australia
Ramesh Powar also insisted while they’ve tried to prepare for the Test in the best possible way, taking markers and cues from their experience in England and situational awareness will be key to them competing well.
Ramesh Powar said that the 15-day conditioning camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru was an exercise in match simulations and team binding, adding that the focus was also on finding reserves capable of sharing pace bowler Jhulan Goswami’s burden.
“Looking at the current situation we are happy to go to Australia and keep playing cricket. After England, we had a one-month break and we back ourselves to do well, we have played enough in the Bangalore camp and are prepared for any format,” Ramesh Powar said.
“In the pre-departure presser on Saturday, coach Ramesh Powar, when asked about the possibility of the team’s schedule in Australia being altered due to border restrictions and Covid-19 lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, said, “We are looking forward to a tour which is challenging and we all are excited to go there and put in our best effort to make it a good tour.”
Meghna Singh, Yastika Bhatia, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Richa Ghosh have been included in the Test and ODI setups of the Indian Women’s team for the tour of Australia in September-October. Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia, and Indrani Roy, who were part of the Indian Test and ODI squads in England but didn’t get a game, have been left out.