Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana He said the team will remain aggressive when they face Australia in their must-win match in the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday. With a place in the semi-finals at stake, India will know that a win over the six-time champions will see them progress after facing tough competition from South Africa. Speaking to them ahead of the match, Mandhana admitted that the Indian batting team has not performed as well as they would have liked in the tournament so far. “It’s a big game obviously. We’ve all talked a lot about how we want to play an aggressive brand of cricket and that’s what we’re all looking forward to tomorrow,” he said.Mandhana believes that India has slowed down significantly compared to Australia in the last few years, due to the increase in the number of cricketers and the skill level of the game which is under stress. He spoke about India’s recent success in Australia and the impact of tournaments like the Women’s Premier League.“We did well in the T20 format in Australia. We will take a lot of confidence from that. With the WPL, I feel that the girls are also much more prepared in terms of the pace of the game than we are capable of,” he said.“But, yeah, again, I feel that the gap has definitely narrowed. With fewer of our players playing in the Big Bash, the events are being shared and I feel the quality of cricket that the Indian team has played in the last four, five years – the gap has narrowed.”
Mandhana opens on Shafali
The left-handed opener also expressed hope that he and Shafali Verma can give India a strong start against Australia after struggling with inconsistency in recent matches.“We had a very peaceful series in England. We were all motivated to come back and give a good start to India because, of course, when we lay the foundations, at least, we are in a good position,” said Mandhana.He also revealed that hanging out with former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara helped him improve his batting.“I have looked up to Sangakkara sir and Matthew Hayden a lot. I remember even in my bad days, I used to watch their videos. So, when I saw him (Hayden) commentating, I was very happy,” he said.“We had a good conversation and I wanted to know a few things about the flu and other things. I also told him that chatting before the Australian game, I don’t know if you like it, but he was really kind and sweet. He shared a lot of things, which I hope I can use in my batting.”