Indian women’s cricket team head coach WV Raman said his players lacked the game time and were short on the “mental stamina and the “cricketing fitness” after the hosts suffered a 1-4 series loss to South Africa Women in the five-match ODI series on Wednesday (March 17).
South Africa thrashed India by five wickets despite Mithali Raj’s unbeaten 79 off 104 balls in the final ODI to finish the series on a high, registering a 4-1 series win over the hosts in Lucknow.
As India Women didn't play international cricket since March 2020 after T20 World Cup final against Australia at the MCG, the coach insisted it is not easy for any team to come back after 15 months and straightly make an impact on the field following the series loss at home.
Raman said at a virtual post-match press conference on Wednesday: “In terms of what transpired in this series, it is very simple: the girls lacked the game time, and they’re obviously short in terms of the mental stamina and the cricketing fitness.”
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He further explained, “I mean it’s not easy to come back after 15 months and play a one-day series and retain the focus and intensity that is required to put the opposition under pressure. So, these things do happen, it happens to the best of players and best of teams.”
However, the coach is confident that his team would bounce back strongly soon. He added, “I am sure that the girls would have realized what was not happening and they will work on it. I have seen them do it in the past and I have no doubts at all, they will do in the future.”
Meanwhile, the national selectors were criticized for dropping Shikha Pandey and Shefali Verma for the ODI series against South Africa and Raman said: “As far as selection issues are concerned, I think it is only fair that I talk to them if required and I talk to them directly.”
However, Raman didn’t blame the bowlers for the series loss to South Africa Women but admitted they were not consistent in the five-match ODI series and they need to work on this area.
The coach further explained, “As far as the positives are concerned, the batting unit is getting into its probe, despite the fact that not all of them got big scores, we managed scores in excess of 250 or around 250.
I think what probably did not go in our favor was the fact that the bowlers could not be consistent, as I said earlier, but there is no blaming them at all because it was expected.
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Yes, this is something that the girls will definitely work on (and) quite a lot of activities going forward we will also help them to achieve that. I am sure it won’t be too long before all of them get into their rhythm and perform as well as they can.”
On being asked about Indian batters’ low strike-rates, Raman said, “You cannot really think of something that is done well by the other sides and try and imitate them. We need to try and get into the groove and then see how the entire unit is in terms of form and then see what we need to do and then we have to assess and see what times we need to try and step on the peddle.
Raman also revealed that they wanted to play on flat tracks because they might face such tracks abroad.
He continued, “We also wanted to play on flat tracks because that is something that we might come up with when we go abroad, so it is all a part of them having to adapt and adjust to conditions that they may get when they go aboard and play major competitions.”
On the other hand, India Women’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur was retired hurt during the final ODI after sustaining a hip strain grade one, but Raman is confident that she will be able to lead the side in the upcoming three-match T20I series against South Africa starting Friday (March 19).
He signed off, “From what I gather, she (Harman) has sustained a hip strain grade one and that will be monitored and all the necessary procedures are being followed. Her progress will be monitored. I don’t think it is a serious injury, we might see her take the field in the T20 series, as things stand now.”
(With PTI Inputs)
