‘Focus on fielding and running between the wickets’: Diana Edulji’s advice to India ahead of 2025 Women’s World Cup | Cricket News

“I wouldn’t put too much pressure on where to finish. Play each game as it comes. Don’t think whether we’ll reach the semifinals, whether we’ll reach the finals. Play to your strengths. Not to the strengths of the opponents. That is the main thing. Focus on fielding and catching and running between the wickets. That is very, very important because every extra run that we get, they have to score one more for that.”

“As well as if we could cut down on the dot balls. Little bit more middle-order strengthening. Jemimah (Rodrigues) should be back, so that should help. Harleen (Deol) and Richa Ghosh also have to pull in with big knocks towards the end. Harman, of course, is luckily getting into shape,” Edulji told The Indian Express .

Edulji tipped young pacer Kranti Goud to lead the pace attack in the tournament. The 22-year-old will face the first test of her short international career when she marks her run-up in the upcoming event on home soil. Goud rose to prominence after a successful debut tour to England, where she took eight wickets in three ODIs that included a spell of 6/52 in the series decider at Chester-le-Street.

The former Committee of Administrators (CoA) member felt that Goud had displayed the requisite confidence and skill to even lead the current Indian attack, with experienced pacer Renuka Singh Thakur returning from injury for the quadrennial event. She added that Goud should be supported with suitable field placements and offered encouragement ahead of the mega event.

Edulji also adviced Goud to do the basics well and keep her cool during the matches, urging that she had experienced players like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur around her. “Just stick to her basics. Don’t get stressed out. She’s got experienced players around her, the likes of Smriti and Harman. Deepti is there. What I have seen of her, a little bit, I think she is quite a confident-looking girl and is confident in her bowling. The fielding has to be supported for her. Good field placements which the coach can discuss and video analysts can show her. Have a little talk with her. All these small, small things which can help her. What I have seen of her, I think she is going to be the lead bowler. A little bit of freedom, and she’s quite confident of bowling in the beginning and towards the end,” she said.

The 69-year-old admitted that while the emergence of Goud was a good sign for India, more work had to be done to create a bigger fast bowling depth in Indian cricket.

“She is doing well, Kranti Goud. I have been watching her since the England tour. Every game, she is improving. What we need to improve is the bench strength of the pace bowling attack. Unfortunately, Arundhati got injured (referring to the injury in the warm-up match against England at the BCCI’s COE). How serious that injury is, I have no idea. Renuka (Singh Thakur), I don’t think is still match fit and needs a little bit more game time. The likes of Saima Thakor are there, but will they get a chance to come in? We need to do something more to get a big pack of fast bowlers”.

Put big totals

The former member of BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) felt that whether or not India would miss a wrist-spinner would depend on the opposition and the surfaces given for the matches. She added that India’s batters needed to put big scores on the board to give the bowlers a chance in the game.

“It all depends on which team we are playing and also the wickets that are going to be given to us. I am sure we will be a spin-heavy team, and being spin-heavy, we need the batting to back us up. We have to be in the 280-300 range to be giving our bowlers a chance since we don’t have such a good pace bowling attack. Four spinners, with Deepti (Sharma) and Sneh (Rana) filling in with the batting, and Radha (Yadav) hitting towards the end, is definitely, I think we have to go with the extra batting with the bowling,” she said.

Edulji complimented the BCCI for inviting her to the World Cup opener against Sri Lanka in Guwahati.