Focus on Mandhana in warm-up
MUMBAI: Focus would be trained on in-form opener Smriti Mandhana when she leads the Board President’s XI in a warm-up match against the visiting England women’s team here on Monday.
The match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium and Mandhana, who is being helped by team coach WV Raman to build up her patience, would be keen to put the lessons learnt into practice before plunging into the series opener here next Friday.
Mandhana, who was named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and also the ODI Player of the Year in December 2018, recently scored 196 runs in the three- match One-day International (ODI) series against hosts New Zealand, including a 100 and 90.
Currently ranked No.1 in the ICC women’s ODI batting rankings, Smriti would be keen to carry that form into the upcoming home series and a good knock in the warm-up match will only boost her confidence.
Apart from Mandhana, BP XI wicketkeeper R Kalpana is also in the
ODI squad and could also benefit from playing in the practice game.
ENGLISH FORCE
On the other hand, England women are a force to reckon with in the 50-over format and they will utilise this game to get acclimatised to the pitch, weather and local conditions.
England also boast of some big names in Tammy Beumont, Heather Knight and Danny White, who had smashed the Indian bowlers during the Twenty20 series last year.
The trio and others would be hoping to start the campaign on a positive note.
The following three-match ODI series, forming part of the ICC Championship, will be played at the same venue on the 22nd, 25th and 28th of this month. Teams:
England women: Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Georgia Elwiss, Alex Hartley, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Laura Marsh, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor (wicketkeeper), Lauren
Winfield and Danni Wyatt.
Board President’s XI: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Bharati Fulmali, Komal Zanzad, R Kalpana, Priya Punia, Harleen Deol, Reemalaxmi
Ekka, Manali Dakshini, Minnu
Mani and Tanuja Kanwar.