Win can trigger a breakthrough in India: Lee
MELBOURNE: He will be supporting Australia for sure but former pacer Brett Lee feels an Indian victory in Sunday’s T20 Word Cup final could be a “start of a major breakthrough” for the women’ s game in the cricket-mad country.
India and Australia will lock horns in what is expected to be a blockbuster title clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“As an Australian, I’d love nothing more than for (Meg) Lanning’s team to do the job. But if India were to win the World Cup for the first time, victory would do so much for women’s cricket in a country that already adores the sport,” Lee wrote in an ICC column.
“This could be the start of a major breakthrough, particularly with the amount of talent that is coming through.”
The former speedster said Australia will have to look for ways to counter the in-form 16-year-old Shafali Verma.
“In Shafali Verma, India boast one of the most talented players in the world and you feel that for Australia to win the game, dismissing her will likely be their first job.
“I’ve been so impressed with the opener—it’s staggering to believe she’s only 16 with the confidence she has in her own ability and the way she strikes the ball so cleanly.
“She’s such good fun to watch and I’m not sure the women’s game has seen anyone like her for such a long time.”
“To be the world’s best T20 batter already shows just how far she has progressed in such a short space of time and the experience in this tournament will hold her in good stead for years to come.
“Even with the way she’s played in Australia and her fearless brand of cricket, you still get the feeling she has more to come as well.”
He reckoned Shafali may have another big score awaiting her.
‘AUSSIES NEED TO COUNTER SHAFALI’
Australia need to play mind games to stop a rampaging Shafali Verma, believes England opener Danni Wyatt.
“It’s obvious what her weaknesses are and Shafali knows what they are. The Australians have tried to bowl to those areas in the past. You’ve got to play a few mind games with her and hope she spoons one up,” said Wyatt.
She shared the dressing room with the Indian star at the 2019 Women’s T20 Challenge.
“When she fails, she’s so hard on herself. I just tell her to relax and that it’s only cricket.
“When you’re opening the batting in T20, it can be brutal because your role is to go hard and you’re always going to fail. She’s very hard on herself when she does,” she added.
Wyatt said it was Shafali’s brutal hitting against the pacers from the men’s team during a net session which convinced her about the Indian’s phenomenal talent.
“Even before the session, she’d go to the nets for extra practice against our quickest male bowlers,” recalled Wyatt.
“She’d bat for about an hour. She’d say ‘yeah, come bowl’ and go ‘bang, bang.’ And I went ‘who’s that?’
“She had an extra 20 minutes to do some drills after. I couldn’t believe she was 15 when someone told me. She knew exactly what she wanted to get out of that session. At aged 15, that’s pretty smart.”