Five years ago, when India featured in a three-match women’s ODI series in Vadodara, it went on to complete a whitewash against South Africa.
However, this time around, as the Women in Blue return to the historic venue, it will be hoping to quickly gauge the conditions at the newly-constructed Kotambi Stadium, which will be hosting its maiden international fixture on Sunday, when India squares off against the West Indies in the first ODI.
Though the venue has hosted a few matches in the Ranji Trophy this season, it still remains an unexplored territory for the women cricketers and as Richa Ghosh suggests, it will be important for the home team to quickly adapt to the conditions and plan things accordingly.
“It is a new ground and we will try to assess the situations quickly and plan accordingly,” Richa said.
With a slight dip in temperature, dew could settle in as the match progresses, and keeping that in mind, Richa believes it’ll be important to ensure that the team does not take the foot off the pedal, following its convincing 2-1 win in the three-match T20I series against the West Indies, which concluded at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
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Shrugging off a disappointing series defeat against Australia earlier this month, the Indian team bounced back strongly on home turf. With Harmanpreet Kaur missing out on the last couple games due to a dodgy knee, Smriti Mandhana led from the front, scoring three consecutive fifties, and also set the record for most runs (193) by an Indian woman in a bilateral T20I series.
While the middle-order looked inconsistent, Richa had her moment in the sun as she smashed a world record-equalling fastest fifty in the final fixture, reaching the milestone in just 18 balls.
As the focus shifts to the ODIs, it will be pivotal for the home side to keep the momentum going. With not much turnaround time between the two series, a lot will depend on India’s mindset. “The mindset is there in every game which comes from the practice sessions. If we have done something in the practice session, it feels easier to do it in a match,” Richa said, adding that playing a lot of power hits during the practice session helped her to execute the plans.
While India will be wary of complacency, for the West Indies, it will be a challenge to turn the tide in such a short period of time.
But captain Hayley Matthews believes that it will be important for her players to believe in themselves and count on the positives ahead of a new assignment.
“It can be tiring,” Matthews said, highlighting the challenges of playing back-to-back games. “But that’s the nature of it these days. We knew coming down here that it was going to be a pretty hectic schedule. For me personally, I kind of like the back-to-back games,” she said.
“Within a few days, I just feel like it gives you an opportunity to get back and write your runs a lot quicker. Obviously, we’ve got a few days now before the ODIs, so there is definitely going to be a lot of attention paid to the recovery process of this…”
T20Is over, both teams will look to start afresh in unfamiliar territory.
