India captain Mithali Raj doesn't want to set target as yet, but aims to focus on every match
Indian women did their best when they finished runners-up in the 2009 World Cup held in South Africa where India lost to the mighty Australians by 98 runs at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
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But this time the team looks focused to go one better while hosting the tournament for the second time (after 1997).
Leading ladies: West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira (left), India’s Mithali Raj, England’s Charlotte Edwards and Sri Lanka skipper Shashikala Siriwardena (right) pose with the ICC Women’s World Cup Trophy at a city hotel yesterday. Pic/AFP
Though Mithali didn’t like to spell out their aims and targets for the tournament starting January 31, the prolific run-getter sounded confident of a good show at home.
“After the T20, we had a domestic season, followed with two camps — NCA in Bangalore and the other in Mumbai. The preparation has gone very well. We get into the tournament with full preparation.
“I personally would like to emphasise more on the results and rather go with the process,” Mithali told at a press conference yesterday.
Asked whether this is their best opportunity, Mithali admitted, but also said they would like to take one match at a time.
“We are thinking of one match at a time. We do have expectations, but we shouldn’t discuss those right now. It’s time to focus on every match that comes our way and win,” Mithali, who played four World Cups so far, said.
The 32-year-old India captain, however, thanked the Indian cricket board for getting so much attention this time. “Since women’s cricket has been taken over by BCCI, we have been getting the exposure and it will surely help develop our game,” the skipper added.
Batters’ wickets
The Indian batting mainstay expects the wicket to help the batters more than bowlers. “Everybody would like to see 300 on board and not 89 all out. I guess, that is the reason why everybody wants to prepare a batting track,” she said.
The skipper looked quite confident of India’s batting and hoped they would do well in the mega event.
“We have a very good combination. We have senior players like Jhulan Goswami, Amita Sharma, the vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who has been among runs.
“We also have two come back players (Murugesan) Thirush Kamini, Karuna Jain, who have played the last World Cup. I am hoping that with this kind of combination, we will do well,” she felt.u00a0
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