Chandigarh: For Amol Muzumdar, head coach of the India women’s cricket team, the coming months featuring the ICC ODI Women’s World Cup will be the biggest challenge of his coaching career.
Everything the team has done in the year so far has been focussed on the big event. Players have been tested in different positions, fitness routines have been fine-tuned and the management has thrown up new challenges to the team. All with the aim of getting that elusive ICC trophy for India.
But before the World Cup begins, Mazumdar and his team have the opportunity of knowing where they truly stand. They will be taking on Australia, the most dominant team in the women’s game, in a three-match ODI series beginning Sunday.
“I think this series is going to be a real trailblazer ahead of the World Cup. Looking forward to the challenge. The team had a good England tour which saw positive results and the team would like to build on from that,” said Muzumdar ahead of the first match of the series in New Chandigarh.
Talking about the takeaways from the England tour and the camps, Mazumdar, who joined the Indian team almost two years ago, said, “We got results as planned, winning the ODI and T20 series. It was a fantastic 40-day tour. Every one contributed, we saw Smriti Mandhana hitting the 100 in the ODI series at the start and then captain Harmanpreet hitting a century in the third ODI. Kranti Goud getting a six-wicket haul in a game. Radha Yadav was commendable and Deepti… always doing her role nicely.”
After the England tour, a 10-day camp was organised at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, followed by another 10-day camp in Vizag where India are going to play two of their World Cup matches.
“The team had two brilliant camps, one in Bengaluru at COE and the second in Vizag. All the boxes were ticked. The COE 10-day camp was right away after the England tour as the team wanted to keep the momentum going. Thereafter, the Vizag camp was more of a team bonding exercise and a collective coming together effort,” said Muzumdar.
But all of this boils down to a simple question: can India beat Australia?
“Australia has been a dominant force for many years,” added Muzumdar. “But we give much importance to our preparation. We are looking forward to playing the Australians, who are probably one of the best sides in the world. It is not that we have not beaten them in the past. Some 16-18 months, we won a Test match against them then a T20 game, both in Mumbai. But they have been a consistent side for sure and we have to make a huge collective effort to finish on the correct side in the end.”
India would be hoping that the Indian batters do well against Australia who have a formidable bowling side. The bowling, on the other hand, will look to the spinners. The slow conditions can present a different challenge to the Aussies, however a few early breakthroughs will always help. That is where the fit-again pacer Renuka Thakur comes into the picture.
“She is an important member of the team. Leader of the pack as far as the fast bowling unit goes. She comes after a layoff but the good thing is she is looking good. We would like to use the series against Australia as a platform for the World Cup.” said Muzumdar.
