Mumbai: The Indian women’s cricket team are going to South Africa early, and skipper Mithali Raj said Tuesday it would help the side to get used to the conditions there. They will play a three-match ODI series, starting February 5 at Kimberly followed by a five-match T20 series beginning February 13, at Potchefstroom. The team will leave Wednesday.
Asked whether going early to South Africa will help, Mithali said, “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 sub-continental wickets and the lateral movement. This time we be playing the ODIs with two new balls… so we will definitely need time to adjust.”
Mithali however, admitted that the coming tour won’t be easy. “I would tell the young girls to start fresh, it is an important tour and it is not going to be easy, because South Africa are 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 pointed out.
The Indian eves had an interaction Monday evening with batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and Mithali termed it as ‘educational’.
“He (Tendulkar) told us how he handled pressure, failure and things like that. It will benefit all the players to handle different situations in their career,” the skipper pointed out.
Press Trust of India
