INDIA WOMEN TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018

Mithali Raj endorses need to reach South Africa ahead of schedule

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on

Mithali Raj talked up the need for the team to reach South Africa well ahead of schedule to get acclimatised to the conditions. © Getty

India Women's ODI captain Mithali Raj talked up the need for the team to reach South Africa well ahead of schedule to get acclimatised to the conditions. India will play a warm-up match before the three ODIs - on February 5, 7 and 10. They will then play out a five-match T20I series between February 13 and 24. The three-match ODI series also kick-starts India's campaign in the ICC Women's Championship (2017-2020), which is currently led by Windies (with 6 points).

The series will also be the first time when India will play with two new balls in ODIs, a rule that has been compulsory since October 2017.

"We had (also) gone early for the World Cup in England (last year) to get acclimatised. It helps (because) we try and organise practice games... get used to the bounce, because normally you don't get to see that bounce in subcontinental wickets and the lateral movement which we are probably expecting, because this time we are playing with two new balls. This is our first international tournament where we will be playing with two new balls. So it is important, we are going early so that we get used to these conditions," Mithali said.

India Women enjoy a 9-5 win-loss ratio in 15 matches (1 No Result) against South Africa in ODIs, but were thoroughly beaten in their most recent fixture at the Women's World Cup in 2017. Raj expects high levels of competition that is likely to stretch both the teams. "I would tell the young girls to start fresh, it is an important tour and it is not going to be easy, because we have played South Africa before, we have toured South Africa for the quadrangular series. The South Africa team is a very good side and we have seen in the World Cup, they almost made it to the finals, so it's going to be competitive cricket and it will test each and every player," Mithali added.

When India take the field for the first ODI in Kimberley on February 5, it will be their first international outing since the Women's World Cup final against England on July 23, 2017. While it exposes the problem that women's cricket currently grapples with - the lack of regular fixtures - Raj reckoned the long break was much-needed for the players, echoing the thoughts of star batter Harmanpreet Kaur. Raj went on to say that players carried niggles during and after the showpiece event which needed recovery time, even as continuing the momentum acquired from a dream run during the World Cup would've been ideal.

"We don't have injuries now. Harmanpreet was injured during one of the World Cup matches, and a lot of players had niggles that needed time to recover. So the gap has given us time to work on ourselves, get more stronger for the coming series. See, before the World Cup, we have been busy with the qualifiers and the Quadrangular series and the preparation for the World Cup, so its been a long season for us. And after the World Cup, it was important for girls to recover, we had few injuries.

"Ideally, we would have preferred to continue the momentum. But when you have injuries, you need to have to recovery time. All players are fit. We have been playing the domestic matches and we had enough time to prepare for the series. A couple of them played in the Big Bash League. We need to start afresh. We have two more series lined up after the South Africa tour," Raj added.

ODI Squad:Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Sushma Verma (wk), Ekta Bisht, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Mona Meshram, Pooja Vastrakar, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia.

T20I Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Nuzhat Parveen (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav.

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