Hyderabad: "Shafali has an aura. People fear her, I have seen that happening," reckons former Indian women cricket team coach WV Raman when ETV Bharat posed a question during a press conference on who could be India's gamechanger in the upcoming T20 series against Australia.
Riding high on confidence, the Indian team will look to conquer the Australians in the three-match T20 series beginning in Gold Coast on Thursday after putting them under the pump in the pink-ball Test match.
"Shafali Verma will play a big role because she can really torment an attack and take the game away from the opponents. And Smiriti (Smriti Mandhana) is obviously in very good form and I hope she continues to be in top knick. She has a major role to play in the shorter format because, by the time you blink, she can get so many runs. It's unbelievable what she can do especially when the team is chasing," the ex-coach said.
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Player of the Match is @mandhana_smriti and she speaks about the experience of playing Test cricket under lights and her knock. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/F6FLoYBp4O
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Player of the Match is @mandhana_smriti and she speaks about the experience of playing Test cricket under lights and her knock. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/F6FLoYBp4O
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021Player of the Match is @mandhana_smriti and she speaks about the experience of playing Test cricket under lights and her knock. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/F6FLoYBp4O
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021
Raman was the Indian women team's national coach and it was under his wings that the team made it to the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup before being succeeded by Ramesh Power, who is serving for the second time as the coach of the team.
On the clash between India and Australia, Raman pointed that Australians are not good chasers and recalled the game against India in the World Cup's league match where India successfully defended a modest total.
"Australia in the T20 format are not the best of the chasers. They struggle when they chase. If you recall the first league game in the World Cup against us, we were defending a very modest score but I still told the girls that this side is not good when it comes to chasing... just keep your nerves and bowl a few tight overs and you never know, and that's exactly what happened.
"If they bat, they bat very freely because almost every player in their team can contribute with bat and fetch a few runs. They are all brought up seeing BBL. Their confidence is there when they bat first, it's completely different when they chase," the 58-year-old said.
On captaincy, Raman believes that Smriti Mandhana is the right candidate to lead the Indian team post the T20 World Cup but conceded that now is not the time to jump the gun and wait till the tournament is over.
India's T20 and ODI skipper Mithali Raj is 38 and Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the T20I team is 32. On the other hand, Mandhana is just 25-year-old and has come up the ranks in a quick time in the Indian team especially after her century against Australia in the pink-ball Test match.
"Captaincy has got nothing to do with age but I am convinced that Mandhana can be the captain. She is a good reader of the game and has already played few years of cricket," he said.
"It can be a good time and giving captaincy to a younger cricketer means they can lead the side for a stretch for some years.
"But this is not the right time for handing over captaincy because of the upcoming World Cup. So just to hold on to whatever is happening in recent past and perhaps, after the World Cup, regardless of the results, I think the captaincy can be handed over to Smriti Mandhana," he said.
The conversation then digressed towards India's preparation for the World Cup in March-April next year and Raman said India is "gearing up well" for the marquee event.
"Going by recent form and based on matches in England and Australia, they seemed to be gearing up well for World Cup.
"They have got two good additions in Meghna Singh and Sneh Rana who are capable of handling pressure, which is so important when you embark on major assignment like the World Cup.
"They have taken to international cricket like duck takes to water. They will provide the kind of security the team management looks forward to. Shikha Pandey is also providing support to Jhulan Goswami. Even Shikha Bhatia has grabbed her opportunity.
Newcomers delivering straightaway is a great sign."
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It was the first time they played with the pink ball and their faces tell you the story!
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Well done, girls! #TeamIndia🙌🏾 #PinkballTest #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/h1eKRcuG8F
">It was the first time they played with the pink ball and their faces tell you the story!
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021
Well done, girls! #TeamIndia🙌🏾 #PinkballTest #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/h1eKRcuG8FIt was the first time they played with the pink ball and their faces tell you the story!
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 3, 2021
Well done, girls! #TeamIndia🙌🏾 #PinkballTest #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/h1eKRcuG8F
On calls of making Test cricket a five-day game after India and Australia match went for a draw despite the Indian team holding the aces for most of the part, and the lost time due to bad weather, Raman insisted not to be hasty.
"We will have to see whether that change is needed. The difference (from overs bowled in a day in men's Test) is 50 overs only because here they are playing 100 overs per day. Let's not be hasty and give it some time," Raman said.
When and where to watch?
Watch the 1st T20i of India tour of Australia Women on 7th October 2021 at 2:10 pm along with 2nd T20i on 9th October & 3rd T20i on 10th October 2021 at 1:40 pm LIVE on SONY SIX (English) & SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels.
Ayushmaan Pandey
