Pune, ATK desperate for win to stay in hunt
The Indian women's team will look to get their act together and score at least a consolation win when they take on New Zealand in the third and final T20 International here Sunday.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will want her batters to put up a better show with the series already lost. The Indian team management decided to drop team's senior batswoman Mithali Raj, who is no longer considered a force to reckon with in the shortest format.
India lost the last two games by 23 runs and four wickets, respectively. The worrying factor, however, is that in both the ties, India could not manage more than 140 runs.
For Indians, except Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, none of the batswomen could deliver.
Debutant Priya Punia's lack of experience has been evident but what hurt the ‘women-in-blue' most was skipper Kaur's poor form. She scored 17 and 5 in the first two games and looked rusty.
Coming to the hosts, Amy Satterthwaite's side have improved after the ODI series loss with senior batswoman Suzie Bates scoring 57 in the final one dayer and a matchwinning 62 in the second T20 International. IANS MUMBAI: The Indian women's selection committee on Saturday retained the Mithali Raj-led ODI squad that won the series against New Zealand, for the three-match rubber against England, starting on February 22.
The three ODIS are a part of the ongoing ICC Women's Championship and will be played at the Wankhede Stadium here.
The ‘women-in-blue' had recently beaten the White Ferns 2-1 in New Zealand in a three-odi rubber.
The selectors also picked the Board President's XI squad, led by Smriti Mandhana, to play a one-day warm-up game prior to the ODI series on February 18. Squad:
Mithali Raj (c), Jhulan Goswami, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (WK), R Kalpana (WK), Mona Meshram, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut.
Board President's XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Bharati Fulmali, Komal Zanzad, R Kalpana (WK), Priya Punia, Harleen Deol, Reemalaxmi Ekka, Manali Dakshini, Minnu Mani, Tanuja Kanwar. IANS FC Pune City and ATK lock horns in an intriguing Indian Super League (ISL) clash here on Sunday, knowing anything less than a win will peg them back a long way in the battle for a semi-final spot.
ATK, with 20 points from 14 games, are placed sixth on the table and are four points off the fourth spot. Pune are a spot below with 14 points but have five matches left to play, giving them an outside chance of getting into the top four.
However, anything less than victory on Sunday will be fatal to either teams' hopes. And that could set the tone for an engaging tussle.
The hosts are coming into the tie on the back of a threematch winning run, the latest being a 2-1 away win over Chennaiyin FC. While the momentum is with the Stallions, new coach Phil Brown would want them to improve defence, which looked shaky at times in Chennai.
"My plan is to get my key players on the ball and that who can win us the game. Last week (against Chennaiyin FC) we did that successfully towards the end, but we need that from the start. Even if we go a goal behind we need to win the game. We need to win the remaining games. We have to get our noses in front and then grow from that confidence," said coach Phil Brown.
Steve Coppell's side were not really prolific up front in the initial part of the season. They had scored only 10 goals in the 12 matches before the break but have found the net three times in two matches now. After bringing in Edu Garcia in the winter transfer window, the team looks more fluid and threatening going forward.
The potential return of star striker Kalu Uche also adds more bite to the ATK attack. The interplay between Manuel Lanzarote, Garcia and Everton Santos has been exquisite at times, as Jamshedpur FC found out in ATK'S last match which finished 2-1 in favour of the side from Kolkata.
A win for ATK will put them within a point of fourth-placed Northeast United and boost confidence as they enter the business end of the league.
"The mood has been one of anticipation, we look forward to every game. We have been (close) to the top four, we have to make that gap as small as possible. We go into the final three matches and we are still in contact, literally, anything can happen," said Coppell.
The defence led by John Johnson will need to be wary of Pune's pacy frontmen and Coppell does have a dilemma in front of him as to whether to deploy Andre Bikey alongside John Johnson, which would mean he will have to sacrifice a foreigner in attack. IANS Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach and New Zealand great Daniel Vettori has on Saturday announced his decision to part ways with Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Brisbane Heat. Vettori, who guided the Brisbane Heat to the semifinal in 2016-17 edition, has been in charge of the franchise for four years.
Vettori's exit comes days after his former Kiwi teammate Brendon Mccullum announced his BBL retirement from the same franchise.
“After careful consideration over the past few weeks, I have decided not to seek a