The team has worked immensely on fitness and skills says Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana, the Indian women’s team opening batter has heaped praises on her side for improving massively since their shattering defeat at the hands of Australia in the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup final. She has stated that India will be more competitive during the upcoming multi-format series against the Australian colts which also includes their first pink-ball Test. 

The tour will comprise of three ODIs and as many T20Is besides that solitary Test match. The limited-overs series will kick off on September 21 while the Test match will be played from 30th September to 3rd October. When the two teams last contested against each other, it was the T20 World Cup final where the hosts produced a thoroughly dominating performance thrashing India by 85 runs. 

“The team has grown massively (since the T20 World Cup),” Mandhana told ‘The Scoop podcast’. Having finished their 14-day hard quarantine on Monday, the Indian women’s team is gearing up for the series. The Indian women’s didn’t play any matches whatsoever for close to a year which helped the players sort out their technical problems and come out stronger

“COVID was a big break after the T20 World Cup and a lot of girls had a chance to go back and understand more about their games, where they lack as an individual and come back stronger,” Mandhana said. 

“The whole team has worked on their fitness and skills…we are still getting into a rhythm of playing matches continuously but the last five, six months we have been playing cricket and now we are getting back into the match mindset. Hopefully, the series goes well for the whole team”

India reached Australia for the multi-format tour straight from England. Five of the Indian players also played in The Hundred tournament in June-July. Mandhana also featured in the tournament. The stylish left-hander said that Australia will be a difficult team to beat at home and the team needs to start enjoying batting on bouncy wickets. 

“We all love playing against Australia because they are one of the best teams in the world and quite competitive,” Mandhana said.

“When it comes to Australia, you’re a bit more pumped because of the level of competitiveness the Australian team, it just rubs off on us and we also start being extra competitive.”

Mandhana remains the only Indian woman batter to smash a century in Australia. The opening batsman smashed 102 in 2016 aged just 16 years old. Mandhana said that the bounce in Australia is true and feels everyone will loving batting in conditions Down Under. 

“Australian wickets have a true bounce and I think everyone loves batting in Australia. No one will tell you they don’t like batting in Australia,” Mandhana said.