Birmingham: “We are an evolving team,” said Indian women’s cricket side’s head coach Ramesh Powar. He hinted that different combinations could be seen in the coming matches at the Commonwealth Games here. In other words, Ramesh Powar placed on the table the ‘evolve’ excuse ahead of the semifinal against England. The Indian eves defeated Barbados by 100 runs to qualify for the semifinals of the Birmingham CWG. Jemimah Rodrigues, who was promoted to No. 3, played a vital 56-run knock to ensure India’s victory.
“We are an evolving team and processes and plans will change. We are trying to get the best out of the players,” Powar said on the eve of the semifinal against England.
“We felt Jemimah is ready for the No. 3 role as she has been playing in England for a while. We thought we will take a chance with her,” Powar added.
India also brought in Taniya Bhatia in place of Yastika Bhatia, who featured in the playing XI in the matches against Sri Lanka recently. “When you come into a marquee event, you are ready with the players and all 15 are available. It’s not a bilateral where you are trying out a player and see what she can do it. It is a marquee event and we want to use whatever we have in our arsenal,” Powar pointed out.
“We felt Taniya could be a game changer as far as wicket-keeping is concerned as we are playing with quality bowlers. Taniya has been very good and I think keeping aspect becomes different when we pick her,” Powar added.
The Indian eves are just a win away from a medal and Powar said the women have been inspired by long jumper Murali Sreeshankar’s silver-winning display.
“It gave us goose-bumps. We were watching our long jumper win silver, that boy was trying so hard. Our job is to go out there and try as hard as Sreeshankar did, he was an inspiration to us,” Powar signed off.
