Women's Cricket
Indian team coach feels positive about the girls' chances at T20 World Cup
The stars are predicted to align for the Indian women's cricket team ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup and Head Coach WV Raman has a strong feeling about it. The 2020 edition of the T20 World Cup that is due to take place in Australia from February 21 and crown a champion on March 8, has high hopes from the Harmanpreet Kaur-led squad of talented cricketers.
The head coach of the Indian women's cricket team, Woorkeri Venkat Raman has placed his full faith in the motley squad of young and rising players who are already creating quite a few ripples in the cricketing world. The first major tournament of the year 2020, the T20 World Cup will be the perfect chance for the current crop of Indian women players to showcase their abundance of talent.
"I'm very positive about our girls' chances. I do not like to get into names. But, of course, I fancy their chances a lot," conveyed WV Raman to the PTI during the launch of his book 'The Winning Sixer -- Leaders Lessons to Master' in Kolkata. The one thing that Raman feels the girls should be wary about is to strike a chord of 'emotional balance' which can help them stabilize in the course of the major World Cup.
Raman, who has been a former cricket player from the State of Tamil Nadu and has gathered ample experience through domestic cricket felt, "The one thing they probably need is to strike an emotional balance. There would be a sudden change in tempo in scorecards, it would induce emotions from both ends. if they can find a middle path it would enhance our chances," he relayed, thinking about the prospects of success at the upcoming World Cup.
The Indian women's team does look incredibly strong with 15-year-old school girl Shafali Verma already smashing records. Verma shattered Sachin Tendulkar's 30-year-old record by becoming the youngest player to make an international fifty for her country. Raman has likened the talent of Verma to that of Virender Sehwag, who was a well-known hard-hitter back in his day. Raman hopes that Verma will be able to sustain this form and carry it into her senior years as well.
Raman elaborated to the PTI and said, "She (Verma) has captured everybody's imagination. It's for her to find out. Sehwag also found out and he certainly changed the entire dynamics of batting. People started looking at 360 in a day," he mentioned. "She will learn, just like (Virender) Sehwag and found out how to go about doing what they do. The good thing is that she has shown that she can perform at that level and she is a quick learner," he spoke in praising terms of the 15-year-old. There is also the all-rounder from Bengal, Richa Ghosh who is going to act as the surprise package of the upcoming tournament assuredly.
Raman is well aware of how brilliant this squad is albeit their young and tender age. "It's a young side, certainly gelling well. Give these girls three years' time. They are going to dominate, I have no doubts," he firmly said before explaining how the women's cricket team has a long, long road ahead in globalizing the sport. "Give it five years, women's cricket will be a big brand in India (like IPL). Let's not jump the gun too fast and go nice and easy," Raman mentioned on a very optimistic note to the PTI.