Australia head coach Matthew Mott on Friday felt the current scenario in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup is a good time to play an “incredibly dangerous” Indian team.
In the current standings of the tournament, Australia are sitting on top with wins in all four matches. India, on the other hand, have faced the bitter cold, winning two and losing the same number of matches.
But Mot is not taking India lightly after the Mithali Raj-led side came close to winning the three-match ODI series last year. Although Australia won the second ODI at Mackay and the series by one wicket, their 26-match winning streak in the format was broken by India, who won the third ODI by two wickets.
“It’s a good time to play against India. I see them as an incredibly dangerous side. So, we’re building some confidence at this point. But as we always say, this game is isolated and everything that we are talking about is how we can compete with India. I think they have one of the best new ball bowling attacks in the world. And we found that out last summer,” Mott said in a pre-match virtual press conference.
“So once again, we’ve talked about negating it, and it’s very important to try to build a base. From a bowling perspective, they just keep coming up with you, with the real match winners. So even though we’re good Let’s get off to the start but we have to respect that they have some dangerous players who can hurt us too. And this is a game that we have to be at our best to get over them and then we go to the next Will reset for one,” Mott said.
Saturday’s match at Eden Park will also be the first time Australia and India will meet each other in a World Cup since the semi-finals in the 2017 edition. Mott believes Australia’s 36-run defeat on the back of Harmanpreet Kaur’s whirlwind 171 will have no bearing on her team’s mind, which sparked a change in Meg Lanning’s team culture and attitude.
“I think it’s a non-event internally. We’re just looking forward to one more match. It’s an opportunity to put our side to the semi-finals, which we’ve come here to do. Time seems to beat everyone. So, coming out with another win will be a huge advantage. And then we can settle our terms in the final. There’s a lot to play for.
“Actually, the last thing on our mind at the moment was five years ago, so we’re really determined to make every match count. Our only focus at the moment is India. We’ve done a lot of research on them, and we’re on their way. Matches well against. They are a good cricket team, but it’s going to be tomorrow night’s game.”
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