The Women’s T20 World Cup is just around the corner, and the Australian head coach Matthew Mott stated that the Indian women’s team has the most fearful batting line-up heading into the tournament. He further added that the Women in Blue are the biggest threats heading into the edition that will be held in Australia from February 21.
The Australians will take on the Indian Eves in the tournament opener at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
“There’s no doubt their strength is the batting. They have got four world-class batters and when I say world-class I mean the top of the tree guns. They will always be a threat. Their bowling, their plans have worked quite well over the years but I think that’s their biggest area for growth,” ESPN Cricinfo quoted Mott as saying.
“They probably need to produce some more fast bowlers. In a T20 they would be the most feared batting line-up – ours is pretty feared but with them, you know that if you take a wicket another good player just keeps rolling out,” he added.
India and Australia have been clubbed with New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the tournament.
Before the World T20 Cup, the two teams will be involved in a Tri-series that also features England, and Mott believes that the short Tri-series will give the side adequate time to shortlist their best playing XI heading into the crucial event.
“That tri-series comes at a perfect time. We’ve always viewed the next month as a really good opportunity to play against the two other best teams in the world. It can’t get any better. If we dropped a couple of games there it’s not the end of the world and we expect to be taken to task,” Mott said.
Australia has not yet named its squad for the women’s T20 World Cup.
India’s squad for World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Richa Ghosh, Tania Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy.
