Indian ODI captain Mithali Raj feels the team’s confidence has gone up following the 2-1 series win over New Zealand and they now aim to avoid having to play Qualifiers for the 2021 World Cup by staying in top four of the ICC Women’s Championship table.
India are currently placed third in the table and are scheduled to host England in the next assignment of the championship cycle later this month.
“The last time we played the Qualifiers, but this time we want to have direct qualification for 2021. With series against England and the Windies coming up, we will definitely look to get maximum points,” Raj was quoted as saying in a release from the International Cricket Council.
Runners-up at the previous edition in 2017, Raj and Co had to play the World Cup Qualifiers in Sri Lanka since they had to forego championship points against Pakistan. They had won the qualifying tournament in style, beating South Africa in the final.
The captain also hailed the young Indian’s team performance against the White Ferns.
“...we did not have too many players who had the experience of the conditions with only Jhulan [Goswami] and me having toured here before. So winning two games here has given us a lot of confidence,” she said.
“Losing the third game, we have come down to number three in the rankings table but I am happy that India are in the top four,” she added.
The coming month will see focus on the championship with two more series featuring teams in the upper tiers of the points table – Australia host New Zealand and India host England in series starting February 22.
These teams are the front runners to make the cut, while New Zealand and four other top teams get direct entries to the premier event two years from now.
New Zealand captain Amy Satterthwaite said her side has learnt its lessons from the debacle against India.
“We have our first real winter at home in three-four years coming up which gives us a great opportunity to develop our skill sets, so playing a quality side like India helps highlight those areas both individually and as a team,” she said.
“The points table is a hard one to read into much because some teams haven’t played as many games as us. Sitting in second is a great place to be, but as other teams play more games, that may change,” she added.