India have been in good form over the last year in women’s One Day Internationals, winning 12 out of 14 matches starting from the home leg in December 2024. But it is a different story when it comes to Australia. Since Harmanpreet Kaur’s sensational 171* in the 2017 World Cup semifinal, Australia have been near invincible in the ODI format – just in general, but also against India. So much so that, in the 13 ODIs since that match, India have won just once. That one win which came in Mackay, though, was significant as it ended the longest winning streak for any team, men’s or women’s, in ODIs at 26. More recently, Australia won all three ODIs at Wankhede Stadium when they toured India last time, back in December 2023. And now, with three ODIs coming up against the world’s best team starting from Sunday, India head coach Amol Muzumdar says there couldn’t be a better platform to test their credentials for the ICC Women’s World Cup at home, starting at the end of this month.
“I think this is a real trailblazer for the World Cup. It is a very important series for us and we are looking forward to this series, playing against one of the top teams in the world,” Muzumdar said in New Chandigarh on Friday. “The preparation is the same. Yes, Australia has been the dominant force for so many years. There is no doubt about it. But we focus on ourselves and we give a lot of importance to how we prepare ourselves, how we plan, and how we are going to execute and that is the main issue. We try to focus internally. As a team, as a complete unit, we are all looking forward to play against Australia. Probably one of the best sides in the world. Talking about the team combinations, we will try and use this series as a platform. Keeping the World Cup in mind, it is a long tournament. The playing X1 combinations will depend on that particular day. We always decide by the game and on the day, how players are feeling.”
Referring to India’s record against Australia, Muzumdar spoke about winning the one-off Test match at home when they toured last time as well as winning one of the T20Is. “Last December (203), we won a full-throttled test match at Wankhede Stadium. And then we beat them in a T20 at DY Patil Stadium. So, it is not that we have not been on the right side of things. But they have been on a consistent side and we have to make a huge collective effort to be on the correct side of the coin,” he said. The first match in Mullanpur on Sunday will be followed by matches on September 17 at the same venue and September 20 in Delhi.
For almost all of the players in this squad, barring captain Harmanpreet Kaur, playing at a home ODI World Cup is going to be a new experience. But Muzumdar isn’t worried about that aspect. “There is always going to be pressure playing international cricket. Our girls are now used to it. We have played a lot of home series in the last two years. With the expectations, with the crowd pressure, they are all used to it. Actually, as repetitive as I can get, we are all looking forward to this series,” the Mumbaikar said.
India can take heart from their impressive results in England most recently, winning both the ODI and T20I series.
“We had a lovely trip to England. The biggest positives were that we had the results and that it was a great team effort where everyone contributed. It was set up really nicely by Smriti Mandhana by getting a 100 at Trent Bridge in the first T20I and then ended really well with Harman getting a 100 in Durham. And in between, there were assorted positives about most of the players who played, everyone contributed, it was a complete team effort.”
Speaking about the bowling unit Muzumdar added: “Like Kranti Goud getting 6 wickets (in the final match). Radha Yadav played a very key role in both T20Is and ODIs. Deepti Sharma, she’s always chipped in, whether with a bat or with a ball. Whenever we have asked her to do the job, she always comes forward and puts her right foot forward. That’s a complete team effort.”
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India’s fielding especially stood out during the England tour, with even the opponent’s coach and captain reserving special praise for Harmanpreet’s side’s consistency. “As a team we have always discussed it very openly (improving fielding and accelerating run-scoring). In the team meetings, we are open to suggestions and that has been a very big positive. When you talk openly about certain things then you can always improve and you can always take it forward. We discussed all the finer points. The one percenters. Those two aspects are among them. We made an effort to improve on certain aspects of the game. They have put in the hard yards, and you can see it,” the coach said.
Since the England tour, India have had camps in Bengaluru and Vizag, the latter being one of the World Cup venues.
“We had two very positive, brilliant camps. All the boxes were ticked, if I put my coach’s hat on it. We had a good camp at the COE in Bengaluru for a good 10 days. Just after the England series, we didn’t want to leave the momentum behind of what we gained in England. We wanted to continue in the camp and we did that. Then we had a break of 10 days, and then again a camp in Vizag. That was more for team bonding and collective coming together. We had a good outdoor for two days in Vizag. There were no cricket spoken. We did all the other activities. It was a brilliant camp.”
India will be welcoming Renuka Singh Thakur back to the side, as the pacer has been out of action since the WPL season.
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“Renuka was recovering from her injury and she has just joined in for this series. Of course, we saw her in COE, and she has just joined in. She cleared all her tests. She is an important member of this team. She has always been the leader of the pack as far as medium-pace bowling is concerned. She has been an integral part of this team, had an injury layoff and then she has come back, she is looking really good.”
The postIndia vs Australia: Coach Amol Muzumdar calls for ‘huge collective effort’ in important series against the champions before ICC Women’s World Cup | Cricket News appeared first on Indian Express
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