India Women will look to play an aggressive brand of cricket in their must-win Women’s T20 World Cup clash against Australia Women at Lord’s on Sunday, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana acknowledged.
The loss to South Africa had complicated matters a little bit for Harmanpreet Kaur and her teammates, who did win their next match though against Bangladesh to keep their semi-final hopes alive. One advantage for India is their positive net run rate (+2.268) compared to that of South Africa (+0.734).
However, before India take on the Australians, South Africa face Bangladesh in a game they are expected to win. If they do beat the Bangladeshis, the pressure could well be double on India to come up trumps against the Australians, who are all but assured of a semi-final berth.
“It’s a big game, obviously,” Smriti said on Saturday, the eve of the clash. “We’ve all spoken a lot about how we really want to be playing the aggressive brand of cricket and that’s something which we’ll all look to do tomorrow (Sunday).”
Barring the later stages of the South Africa game, India’s bowlers have done a
reasonably good job in the competition.
Batting continues to be a concern for the Harmanpreet-led side. Smriti, whose own form too hasn’t been outstaning, agreed that the batting unit has not often been able to bat to its full potential in this World Cup.
“We’ve been speaking a lot during the meeting (with batters) about how we really want to go out there and bat with intent. It has not happened as much as we would have loved to. But having said that, I think everyone in the batting unit is itching to go,” Smriti stated.
The vice-captain, though, believes India’s performances against Australia have been about a steady improvement over the last few years.
Braving a tough situation riding on the innings from Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet had helped India overcome Austraia in the Women’s ODI World Cup semis last year, a tournament they eventually won.