Oz series important test ahead of World Cup: India coach

After its series win against England, the Indian women’s cricket team is considering the upcoming three-match ODI rubber against Australia as the perfect test before the World Cup.

The series will start from September 14, with Maharaja Yadavindra Singh PCA Stadium hosting the first two matches. While talking to the media, India head coach Amol Muzumdar said that the home side will be aiming for a series win to boost their confidence before the marquee event, starting on September 30.

“This is a very important series for us, and we are looking forward to playing against one of the top teams in the world,” said Muzumdar. “We have to make a huge collective effort to be on the right side of the result. Specially, considering a big tournament ahead. Australia have been a dominant force for so many years but we focus on our preparation and how we are going to execute our plan.”

Muzumdar also praised the team’s results in England, where India won the ODI series 2-1 and the T20Is with a 3-2 verdict. “We had a lovely tour of England and we had positive results which we wanted. It was a fantastic 40-day tour. We gelled really well. It was a great team effort. Smriti (Mandhana) got a ton in Trent Bridge and Harman (Harmanpreet Kaur) got a hundred in Durham,” he said.

The second game of the Australia series will be played on September 17 before the teams move to New Delhi for the September 20 finale. “There’s always going to be pressure playing international cricket and the players are now used to it. We played a lot of home series and we are used to the expectations of the crowd,” he said.