Indian women cricket team are set to play their first-ever Day-Night Test match against Australia at the WACA.
Meanwhile, there is an absence of a warmup game ahead of the mega Test match, former Indian women coach WV Raman has anow stated that the team should practice with pink ball and focus on the limited over series.
“Getting a practice game now looks a bit impractical because there are a lot of restrictions and you may not have perhaps a good side to form from the local talent available. It’s not just about playing a practice game, it’s also about getting a reasonably good quality side. So, the best option would be to try and play as much as you can with the pink ball, try and practice with it, try and see what the bowlers need to do, get used to it in whatever number of days they have available,” Raman was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.com.
“It’s the same for the batters as well, they’ve got to ensure that they get over whatever apprehensions and anxieties that they may have with the pink ball,” said the former India opening batsman before adding that the women cricketers should not get overawed by the fact that they are playing with the pink ball.
“It shouldn’t matter because they should try and tell themselves that it’s a case of just playing a sphere with a piece of willow, that’s the best way to get into a game,” he said further.
India play a Test in England next month and follow it up with the day-night Test in Australia.
This is the first time they are playing a Test since 2014.
Raman added that India shouldn’t be too much concerned about loosing the Test matches and since they will be forgiven due to lack of practice game.
“Even if things go unexpectedly badly, they shouldn’t be too disappointed because the important leg of the tour is the one-day series, and they enjoy playing the T20 format, and this is a situation where they’re playing a Test match after nearly seven years, so it’s not easy. We’ve seen that the best of sides can be a little bit rough getting into a Test game after a long break. A long break can even be three-four months, so seven years is a long time. They have everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
India will be touring Australia in the September-October calendar for the full series comprising one Test, three One-day Internationals, and three T20 Internationals.