Richa Ghosh feels India need to be mentally strong in the semis“We can beat Australia.” This was a statement which India’s wicketkeeper-bat Richa Ghosh reiterated on at least three occasions during the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
India will have to go into the T20 World Cup semifinal with belief in their ability and execute their plans to perfection. Australia would have been on a 22-match T20 winning streak, if not for the high-intensity tied game against India last year. Barring that blemish, they haven’t lost a match since March 2021.
That the defending champions are favourites is stating the obvious, but given their success rate against India, they also hold a psychological advantage.
Meg Lanning, skipper of the all-conquering Australian side, believes both teams will start at the same level. “What’s happened in the past doesn’t make a difference. We need to play our best cricket and India will look to do the same. It’s about putting out your best performance on the day.”
On the other hand, Richa said, India’smindset was work in progress. “We are improving our mindset. The one who is mentally strong in the game will win.”
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Women’s T20 World Cup: India have task cut out against Australia
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<p>Having put up a patchy performance in the Women’s T20 World Cup thus far, India will have to lift their game drastically against nemesis Australia in the first semifinal on Thursday.<br /><br /></p>
<p>India, who have been among the top teams over the last five years but unable to win a major trophy, have expectedly made the semifinals of another ICC event.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Defending champions Australia have won nine of the pair’s last 10 meetings with the other game ending in a tie.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Australia beat India in the previous T20 World Cup final at home and more recently at Commonwealth Games gold medal match in Birmingham last year.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Though the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side won three of its four games in the group stage, not one performance could be called convincing including the game against Ireland. Their sole loss came against England.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Considering the way India have played so far, one can only hope that somehow they are able to fix all their issues for the big game, whether it is the inconsistent top-order, the inability to hit sixes barring Richa Ghosh or the high dot ball percentage.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Opener Shafali Verma made her international debut more than three years ago and though still a teenager, she has not been able to learn from her mistakes, mainly her inability to rotate the strike and her susceptibility against the short ball.<br /><br /></p>
<p>In the bowling department, pacer Renuka Thakur has been India’s best bowler in the event with seven wickets so far, including a five for 15 against England.<br /></p>
Dwelling on India’s strength, Lanning said, “They obviously bowl a lot of spin and they’ve got some good variety within their attack. So that just sort of keeps you on your game as a batter, making sure you’re adapting quickly. And I just think that they’re overall match winners.”
Richa predicted a high-scoring contest. “The pitch looks good. If the batters click, we can target 180. If we bowl first, we will try to keep them to 140-150.”
