Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar had a constructive chat with the Indian women cricketers. Indian skipper Mithali Raj said in Mumbai that interaction with him would benefit all the players.

During the pre-departure press conference to South Africa, Raj said, “Talking about the interaction with Sachin (Tendulkar), it was very important for the team as well as the players individually because we got to learn from his vast experience.”

Also read: When Sachin met Indian women cricketers

The Indian’s women team will tour South Africa for a three-match ODI series, which starts at Kimberly on February 5, followed by a five-match T20 series, which is scheduled to start on February 13 at Potchefstroom. The team will fly to the rainbow nation on Wednesday.

Mithali pointed, “He (Tendulkar) told us how he handled pressure, failure and things like that. It will benefit all the players to handle different situations in their career.”

It was understood that Sachin told the players to go with a positive frame of mind and advised them not to worry about the conditions there. Meanwhile, Raj said the T20 games in South Africa would help them prepare for the Women’s T20 World Cup to be played in West Indies later this year. Raj said, “Yes it’s been a while playing T20 format. As an Indian team, we are looking forward to T20s and need to work hard in this format.”

Also read: Mithali Raj reveals stress busting techniques

Meanwhile, Mithali also said that she would stick to the batting order and won’t try too many new things. She said, “We do have three new players into the squad. After the World Cup, this is our first tour, so I would not be trying too many things, because it is important for the core to get confidence. So I will go in with the conventional batting order so that we get the points because it is important that we win matches.”

The Indian skipper also praised young Mumbai girl Jemimah Rodrigues saying she has scored a lot of runs at the Under-19 level. She described, “Jemimah is a young, talented girl. She scored a lot of runs at the U-19 level as well as the Challengers. She is very promising and as a captain my only wish is that she performs whenever she gets her opportunity for the country and herself. Also, she is a very good fielder. In fact she is amongst the best fielders in the team.”