Mithali Raj wants India to be ‘more consistent’ ahead of WC 2022

Mithali Raj, who is set to lead India in the Women’s ODI World Cup 2022, on Wednesday said that the team needs to be more consistent. The 39-year-old further spoke about the scope of improvement in her own batting, declining to comment on her plans after the marquee tournament. 

The Women’s ODI World Cup is scheduled to begin on March 4. The Indian team will play a five-match series against hosts New Zealand, starting February 11.

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Mithali Raj, ahead of the Kiwi tour, said that the team needs to be consistent with what has worked in their last two visits. 

“We will definitely be looking to fix our combinations for the World Cup (in ODIs against New Zealand) and try out a few compositions and also get a little more consistent in the things that worked for us in the last year,” Raj told PTI. 

The Indian side has backed fresh talents in Meghna Singh, Yastika Bhatia and Richa Ghosh over the oast few months. Sneh Rana, who seems like a pivotal part of the team combination, made a  successful comeback into the setup. 

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Mithali Raj further added that India have showed potential. All-rounders like Pooja and Sneh Rana have done well in England and in Australia. She would like to see the lower middle order keep contributing. 

“Richa definitely showed that she has the strength and the calibre to sort of go big in the in those last few overs that we actually wanted someone like that. She gives us edge in batting while Taniya (Bhatia) has better glove work – it’s good to have good competition for spots and we have a five match to series to try out the combinations.

“The seamers off course (have done well) but a little more work is needed in the spin department but that is an experienced lot that we have,” added the leading run getter in 50-over cricket,” the skipper said. 

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Raj, who is nearing the end of her glorious two-decade old international career, recorded four 50 plus scores in the six games in England and Australia. However, she was criticised for her poor strike rate. Mithali said it is an area, she has been working on since the Australia series in September.

“There are always areas that as a player you feel you need to work on, no matter how many years you put in at that level. Because there are always teams and bowlers trying to come up with strategies and you need to counter that. That’s what international cricket is all about.”

“There are a few things that I have seen (from my innings) in England in Australia that I can really work on. I tend to sort of cut down the innings that I play in the first stage, the middle stage and how I can accelerate in the end,” she said. 

On her plans after the World Cup, Mithali, 39, said, “Let’s focus on the World Cup, the next two months are going to be crucial.” The squad recently had a week long camp in Dehradun to build “team bonding”. A few activities were also organised to develop leadership skills of the younger players.