Follow UsIt has never been easy against Australia. No matter the format or conditions, the Australian Women’s team have always posed an imposing outlook, winning everything in the sport. While India have often come as a hindrance on their way, winning against Australia still remains an elusive affair.
As the Australia Women’s team start a new era under Alyssa Healy as their full-time captain, they will be tested against an Indian outfit who carry the momentum of winning a Test against England by a massive margin of 347 runs. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is cognizant of the fact that Australia can’t be taken lightly even without their legendary skipper Meg Lanning not being at the helm of the affairs.
"The way we played the first Test (of the season), we want to carry the same energy into this one. It is very exciting, knowing Australia is such a good team and everyone wants to beat them," Kaur told reporters after India's training session on Wednesday.
"They have a balanced side and everyone has experience in all formats. We can't say Meg (Lanning) is not there and take them lightly. We just need to think what best we can do rather than thinking about how good they are. We have played a lot of cricket against Australia. We know their weaknesses, we will sit and discuss our game plan accordingly," she said.
Also Read: A Meg Lanning-less life begins for Australia on tough Indian conditions
After a really long time, Indian Women are playing two back-to-back Test matches, albeit against two different oppositions, within a space of four days. Even though spinners mostly dominated the proceedings, Indian pacers Renuka Singh Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar played a crucial role in setting up the top order. Harmanpreet Kaur stated that it was important for the team to conserve their energy.
"They need to feel ready for the game and we made them train accordingly. The ones who had lesser loads we pushed them hard in the nets to feel more confident. The more we feel fresh, the better it will be for us, because there is hardly (any) time to prepare.
“If there was a 10-12 day (break), you can take 2-3 days off and again prepare yourself. We were lucky we had a fourth day off (against England) and then just one day off. We tried to recover in that.”