India's women cricketers are not as athletic and strong as their foreign counterparts when it comes to running around the park and that is something fielding coach Abhay Sharma will work on extensively with them during the upcoming UK tour. Sharma, who has worked a lot with the men's India U-19 team, was with the national women's team for the first time during the home series against South Africa in March. Since the series was organised last minute, Sharma did not get a lot of time with the players but he is looking forward to working with them on an individual basis during the UK tour, starting June 16. The Indian team is scheduled to play a Test, three ODIs and as many T20s against the hosts.

"Overall development is needed as far as fielding is concerned. The game is changing, you have to be more athletic. Technically, work needs to be done. What I observed is that a lot of girls are struggling with their throwing techniques. "If you develop wrong technique in your early days then it troubles you with injuries. Once the technical side is taken care of, then you can build on the strength part," Sharma told PTI before entering the bio-bubble in Mumbai ahead of the UK tour. In the home series against South Africa, Sharma observed that the opposition players were much faster in the field. "This time I will interact with more on a one to one basis rather than group and assess what they feel about the game and then try and match up to my expectations.