India women’s Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj engaged with media virtually before the start of their one-off Test match against England women from June 16 at the Bristol County Ground in Bristol.
Speaking on the preparations for the Test, Mithali said that she took the advice of other cricketers to prepare better for the longest format. She also mentioned that she wanted to play more Tests in her career, given that she has only 10 long format matches under her belt when compared to 214 ODIs and 89 T20Is.
"I have played lesser Tests than ODI and T20, I would have liked more Test matches. I wouldn’t really get down to thinking whether my game is evolved in this format, but the preparation has been very similar. And probably talking to many other cricketers, trying to get how they prepare for the longer format has helped me to prepare for this Test match,” Raj said at the match-eve virtual press conference.
Mithali has 663 runs in 10 Tests with one century and 4 fifties to her name. She once held the world record for highest individual score in women’s Test with 214.
Raj said she would not want rookie players to be burdened with expectations and would advise them to enjoy the game.
“Well, we did brief them (players) about how the long format is played and clearly for someone who is making a debut, you don’t want to burden them with expectations and responsibility. So, it is just that I would brief together as a team, support them on the field and they should just enjoy playing this format,” the skipper added.
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India will also play a Test, a day-night match, when they tour Australia later in the year and Mithali batted for having matches in all three formats in a bilateral series going ahead for women cricketers.
"Yes, I feel that this Test match (against England) and even the pink-ball Test in Australia in the coming months, it is just the beginning of having a three-format bi-lateral series. It probably opens the channel to have another format added in the bilateral series and that clearly will help the overall standard of women’s cricket,” Raj added.
Speaking about the practice the team has gotten before the one-off Test, Raj said that batters and the bowlers tried to get as many sessions as they could to get used to the red-ball.
“We are looking forward to this Test match and series. Yes, 2017 was the last time we were (on) England soil. It was quite an experience for the team and most of them were part of the squad, so they got that exposure, experience. Also for the first time, we have points for the series, so clearly it is going to be an exciting series and that is what all of us are looking forward to,” she signed off.
(PTI inputs)
