WILL STICK TO MY STRENGTHS AND NOT EXPERIMENT MUCH: VASTRAKAR

QUEENSTOWN: India pacer Pooja Vastrakar says she won’t experiment too much and would look to stick to her strengths during the five-ODI women’s series against New Zealand starting with the opening game here on Saturday. The 22-year-old made a good start to the New Zealand tour, snapping two wickets in the one-off T20I.

“I worked hard on my newball bowling as England and Australia tours weren’t that great for me. I got a lot of inputs from coaches and senior players. I worked on them at home. For consistency, did a lot of single wicket practice and I got the result in the last ODI series in Australia,” Pooja said in a virtual press conference.

“It is a dream for every bowler to bowl in AUS, NZ, ENG. So my focus in the T20I was on the processes, to bowl at the stumps and I want to repeat that in the ODI series, not try anything different, just bowl to my strengths and stay consistent on my line and length.” Talking about her batting, Pooja said: “Last 10 overs are always crucial. So we worked on that in Bengaluru. I was also told that in Challengers I need to focus on power-hitting, picking right bowlers and touchwood it went well. I now want to use that confidence here too.”

India’s wicketkeeper-batter Taniya Bhatia, who has been battling an inconsistent run of form, said she focussed on power hitting. “I focussed on my power hitting, on what team management requires out of me. In domestic also, as a captain, players and as an individual, I have evolved a lot. I have the confidence, so I am looking forward to the series.”