"Area of focus is cricket": Indian bowling coach Salvi ahead of clash with Pakistan in Women's World Cup

Colombo [Sri Lanka], October 4 (ANI): Ahead of his side's ICC Women's World Cup clash against Pakistan, Indian bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi said that the focus is on just cricket and the team bringing up their A game.

The Indian team, which kick-started the campaign with a 59-run win over Sri Lanka, will have their second match of the campaign against Pakistan, which endured a defeat in their campaign opener against Bangladesh. India has never lost to Pakistan in the women's 50-over World Cup, having won all four of their clashes so far. This follows three India-Pakistan clashes during the men's Asia Cup won by Men in Blue, which saw plenty of off-the-field controversies, such as the 'handshake row' where Team India did not shake hands with Pakistani players, and the Indian players not taking the Asia Cup trophy from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan's Interior Minister.

Speaking during the presser, Salvi said, "The area of focus is also cricket again, where we want our girls to get their A game on the day, and we want them to take it just as a game, because the World Cup is a long campaign. There will be a lot of games coming our way. So, take it day by day, however it is. Work on your strategies, work on your plans, be clear with whatever you want to achieve as a group and individually, and just execute it, and just be calm and composed."

Salvi said that heading into the tournament, India had 10 bowling options in their set-up, and extra options will be available if rest and recovery for premier bowlers like pacer Renuka Thakur need to be given.

Salvi was also full of praises for spinners Deepti, Sneh Rana and Shree Charani, with them having taken seven wickets combined during the tournament opener against Sri Lanka and Deepti taking three of them. He called them a "good combination" which brings experience and youth.

"If you have seen, they have been playing together since the last three to four series. And if you've seen, their combination is really working well for us. And also, they are all very hardworking girls. They are working well during the practice sessions, during the games. Post-games also, the interactions are with them, where they want to improve, and what they want to improve, and how they want to improve are the questions around which these three are working around. So, I see that they are very hungry to go out there and give their best for the country," she concluded.

Squads:

India Women's Squad: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh(w), Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Uma Chetry

Pakistan Women's Squad: Muneeba Ali, Omaima Sohail, Sidra Amin, Rameen Shamim, Aliya Riaz, Sidra Nawaz(w), Fatima Sana(c), Natalia Pervaiz, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Eyman Fatima, Syeda Aroob Shah, Sadaf Shamas. (ANI)

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