Indian women’s cricket team head coach Ramesh Powar feels the Sri Lanka tour was a good learning experience for them who want to dominate the cricket world rather than competing.
After winning the three-match ODI series by 2-1, Indian women’s cricket team dominated in the five-match T20I series against the hosts Sri Lanka women as the visitors won that T20I series by 4-0.
Talking about their Sri Lanka tour experience, the new head coach Ramesh Powar told Women’s Criczone, “It was a good learning experience. The way we started the first game in ODIs and the way we finished the last T20 that will make a lot of difference to their thinking. They have started to think more about positive cricket rather than just competing, about dominance rather than just competing. That’s what we were planning to do.”
While Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj both were in the brilliant batting forms during the ODI series, they heavily disappointed in the T20I series. In the recently concluded T20I series, while Raj scored a total of 53 runs (average 13.25), Mandhana only managed to score 11 runs (average 2.75) with the best knock of 6 runs.
However, Powar backs both the cricketers as he has the high faith in both the cricketers.
Talking about them, Powar said, “I’ll always back Smriti, she is a proven player. She will head to her home, work on her game and come back strong again. I’m happy with what Mithali is doing at the top. Mithali has carried this team for a long period of time. I know she can open, I know she can play brisk innings.”
Powar also praised the newcomer young right-arm medium pacer Arundhati Reddy, who made her international cricket debut during the T20I series on this Sri Lanka tour. The 20-year-old got a total of four wickets in the five-match T20I series and Power believes she is one of the future bowlers who can replace the Indian women’s pacer Jhulan Goswami.
Powar said about Reddy, “I think she (Reddy) is one bowler who can, in future, maybe replace Jhulan (Goswami). That’s what I’m looking at. You’ll not get a second Jhulan, but you can try to get someone close to her. I thought that way, our selector also thought that way, so we are backing her.”
