Indian women’s cricket team coach Ramesh Powar said the team needs an ideological change to play more fearlessly on the world level.
Talking after the final match of the month-long England tour, which saw India drop the multi-format series 10-6, the coach identified fast bowling and middle order batting as the areas for improvement ahead of next year’s ODI World Cup. India drew the Test bit lost both the ODI and T20I series 2-1.
However, he admitted that the change in mentality won’t happen overnight.
“We have to be fearless. I can’t force them in first series. They have been playing with some ideology and we can’t make drastic changes. We have to assess what suits them,” the former India off-spinner said.
“To get them out of it (we have to) convince them and to do that, it takes a lot of communication. Fearless is how modern cricket will be played.”
Talking about the middle order woes, Powar called for a shift in mindset or some fresh middle-order batters who can be moulded as per team ethos.
Save skipper Mithali Raj, other players Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, and Punam Raut struggled with the bat in the ODI series. With about seven months to go for the next World Cup, the big focus will be on fixing this chink.
“Mithali is batting well but we need support from at least one more batter to put pressure on opponents in middle order after Powerplays,” Powar said at the end of the series.
“There are two ways. Either mould them (current lot) or draft in other middle order players to up the ante. As simple as that. This time we tried a few combinations and it didn’t work out and going forward, we might try something new, bring new players, might mould them.”
Powar indicated that till the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand, he would try to make do with available resources.
“Till the World Cup, we need to find a way to get a middle order where we can say that they can surely get us 250. It’s up to all the stakeholders. The captain, the vice captain, selectors and myself, we will discuss these things.”
Talking about the fast bowling he said India were hoping for a camp to increase the bench strength.
“We need to enhance the fast bowling department. We are only looking at Jhulan to perform. There has to be some support for her.”
“We are looking to add some [fast] bowlers, if we are going to get a camp after this tour, we will start working on them,” he said. “In the seven months, we want to create a pool of fast bowlers. We already have five in the team, we are looking at five more, so 10 bowlers to work on for the next few months and we will get the results.”
Yes, time is short, but the way forward is including more fast bowlers from domestic teams and domestic performers. We are especially looking at tall fast bowlers. Those who have performed can be included in the next camp, so yes, we are looking at 10-15 fast bowlers going ahead,” he added.
With PTI Inputs