India bowling coach Troy Cooley said Smriti Mandhana has trained and will be assessed how she pulls up ahead of their second match at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.
After their win against Pakistan, India take on West Indies in their second group stage match on Wednesday at Newlands, Cape Town.
India played the opener without their talismanic opener, as Mandhana picked up a finger injury in the warm-up match against Australia.
Here are the edited excerpts from Cooley’s press conference on Tuesday:
What are the conversations with the bowling group during training?
Oh, well, all the good conversations around how we’re going to take the West Indies down. So just things that we were doing well, things that we need to concentrate on. And they’re super strength. So yeah, all the good conversations about how they’re going to set up and hopefully, get us to win against the West Indies.
You’ve been working with some of the bowlers since the NCA camp for the fast bowlers for a while now. So how has been your experience with these bowlers?
It is just to get them to understand where they are and what their strengths are and, yeah, keep working on those as much as they possibly can, obviously, applying to different formats. But now, specifically with the T20, just making sure that their skills are ready. And also, when they get an opportunity to add a skill here and there. But right now, we’re in performance mode and we’re executing their skills that they need. And their super strength.
We have a game tomorrow. So you know, the girls have been working very hard since they arrived here. And their skills are in a good place. So today was about topping them up, having them mentally and physically fresh for tomorrow. So, we come into these situations, they let me know what they’re working on, what they want to try and once they get that, you know, then the physical part of their preparation is looked after as well. So we pack them up, their skills are ready, their minds ready and they’re physically ready. So they’re the sort of conversations that we have. And we just make sure that they’re ready to go for tomorrow.
Can you give us an update on Smriti Mandhana because she batted today at the nets, and is she fit to play tomorrow against West Indies?
I think, yeah, she’s been working very hard. And I think from today, it’ll obviously be assessed after today, but she did everything she needed to get done today. And I think, yeah, from us, you know, obviously, we look at how she pulls up. But we’re pretty confident that she got through the session today and did everything she needed to do.
Another update on Harmanpreet. Is she fit because she didn’t come in the training today?
Yeah, well, Harman, she has a very good training program. She knows the game inside out. And you won’t see her very regularly coming in the day before a game. But she’s fit and she’s got a smile on her face and she’s hungry to score some runs, which is great, and lead this team.
Any particular plan you have against Hayley Matthews?
Well, she’s a she’s a great player, but yeah, we’ve got some plans against her. And I’m not going to divulge them here and now. But we’ll try and stop the scoring and try and get her out. So the girls are ready for her and as they are with all the bowlers from the West Indies, and all the batters, I should say. So yeah, we’ve prepared really well. We’ve obviously played a tri series against them as well. So we’re obviously looking forward to coming up against them and having some fun and trying to win our next game.
After defeating Pakistan, there is confidence, you are self-assured, your team morale is high. So in these regards, how will this affect your performance going forward?
Well, I think every team likes to win, don’t they? But how you win and what you do during your preparation. As I said, we’ve come here, we’ve played a tri series, we’ve got ourselves skilled up and ready to play in these conditions. So I think whether we win or lose, we know that we’ve done all the work, and we’re just going to go out there and give our best effort and of regardless who the opposition are. So yeah, we’re ready. Physically, we’re ready mentally, and we’re ready tactically. So hopefully when we get to the ground tomorrow, all those things come together and we can have a really good game.
In the short time that you’ve spent with the team, is there any specific areas that you worked on in bowling?
I’ve been pretty lucky since I arrived. I’ve had some good contact with the players now. So we’ve got a bit of an idea of where their strengths and weaknesses are. So a lot of the things we’re looking at are trying to do right now and just make sure that their strengths are ready to go. But nothing very specific, only that, we’re getting them mentally ready to play. Obviously, the tactics are pretty important during a World Cup. You know, we’re coming up against some teams for the first time, and the second time - new players coming in. So we’re really working on the thinking part and the tactical part. But yeah, we haven’t forgotten our skills, you know, we’ve got them ready as well. So yeah, I think we’ve tackled all the areas that we need to, to have them ready to play.
I wanted to ask that last day, Deepti went for a few runs, especially towards the end of the game. But we know how good touch she has been in over the last few weeks. We have seen her bowl. So on certain days when a bowler has an off day like that, what particular conversations do you have with that player?
She’s an exceptional player and she bowled three overs in the power play, one at the depth and we also only had three fielders out. We know that those are high pressure times, but you know, who better to give the ball to than someone like Deepti? The conversations are really, you know, did you bowl the ball you want? Did you have the field you wanted? And away you go. We let things go as much as we can, but the girls are very good at reviewing their own performances. We have some good conversations with them. If we find something that we need to add, we will add it. And they’re very open to input. So a lot of growth in the girls, of course, but Deepti is one of the key players and she’s going to go for a few runs some days. That’s just the nature of this T20 game. But she, you know, she bowled in the high pressure situations and we believe she did a good job.
Transcript courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone.
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