“Surprised” by India’s lack of top-ranking design in the loss to New Zealand, head coach Ramesh Powar has urged the team’s senior players to take more responsibility, starting with the ICC Women’s World Cup game against West India. India, on Saturday . India’s top order failed to fire again as the side led by Mithali Raj scored just 50 runs from 20 overs as they chased 261 before suffering a 62-run loss to host New Zealand on Thursday. “I think it was one of those days when things didn’t go our way and frankly I was also surprised by the way we skipped 20,” Powar said at the virtual pre-match conference on the eve of the match of the United States. team against West Indies. †
“And if you look back on the last six games we’ve played against New Zealand, we have executed our plans well.”
Powar said the team has been given plenty of opportunities to practice in the run-up to the tournament and now is the time to perform.
“I want seniors like Mithali (Raj), Smriti (Mandhana), Jhulan (Goswami), and us to win the matches single-handedly, because their participation and contributions to victory will scare the younger players,” said Powar.
“I think it’s the pressure of the World Cup, but I don’t want to apologize. Now is the right time to raise your hand and put the performance down.
“We’ve been training for the last six months, we’ve been to England and Australia, we’ve been to New Zealand early so we’ve been given all the practice opportunities we needed, so it’s time as a group to get up and perform.” Powar added.
The former spinner also urged the top five batters on the side to be more consistent.
“Going forward, I expect she (Harmanpreet Kaur) to be consistent and I expect everyone out of the top five to be consistent.”
India then meet an in-form West Indian side, who have already upset defending champions England and host New Zealand in their first two matches.
The coach stressed the need to show intention in the first 10 overs.
“(Sneh) Rana and Pooja (Vastrakar) are part of Team India and we have worked hard on every single player – be it the pure batter or the all-rounder.
“These things will happen when the top three-four will struggle (and) the bottom three will perform. It’s a team game, where someone has to cover for someone, everyone is not going to run every match.
“Going forward, it’s important to show some intent when you skip in the first 10,” said the former India spinner.
“And if you look around at this World Cup, chasing isn’t easy, but it was a good wicket to chase and we screwed up in the first 20 overs where I expected momentum and intent,” he stated.
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Vice Captain Harmanpreet Kaur is back between runs after going through a rough patch and Powar is confident the right-handed cable is on winning matches on his own.
“When someone is out of form, that player comes in form, I’m happy. I was never disappointed when she was out of form because I know what kind of player she is, I coached her in 2018 and I know her abilities, can they win you matches on your own,” says Powar.
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