India’s Women team skipper Mithali Raj is confident ahead of the semi-final clash of ICC Women World Cup 2017 against Australia. India had already lost a game to Meg Lanning led-side in group stages, it was one of the two games they have lost in the tournament so far. Raj & co. are familiar with the pitch conditions at Derby as they have played 2 games there. Raj was proud of the brand of cricket Indian women team has played throughout the tournament and considers it one of the best she has seen.
“We’ve played a lot of the group stage here, four games, so we are aware of the conditions and that is our advantage. But Australia is a very good side. They won the last edition of this tournament and they have a lot of players who have played in high-pressure games,” she said.
“It’s all about how the teams respond to the situation and the conditions on the day,” she said.
“How the players play the situation is important because having said that Derby is our home ground, you need to perform on that day to win. “But for this Indian team, it is going to be a big game and if we can pull out one win, it will be exceptional by the team,” she added.
“We’ll make sure we’re really clear what our plans are. On any given day, it’s irrelevant where we play, if we play our best cricket hopefully we’ll win the match,” she said.
WATCH LIVE: India captain #MithaliRaj faces the press ahead of their #WWC17 semi-final against Australia #AUSvINDhttps://t.co/0dq2PQGJhv pic.twitter.com/zKNEnZMfYZ
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Whereas Australian player Alex Blackwell is no mood to take the opposition lightly, she said, “India have played a couple of matches at Derby as well so they’ll be pretty familiar with the conditions as well. We can’t afford to be off our game, as you have seen throughout the tournament if you have an off day the other team can get a big jump on you,”
WATCH LIVE: @AlexBlackwell2 talks to the press ahead of @SouthernStars‘ #WWC17 semi-final against India #AUSvINDhttps://t.co/J33iLME63c pic.twitter.com/6zAoSL5q81
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“We’ll have to do a bit of homework, look at the conditions and see what Derby has to offer because I think India will come out and really take it to us,” she added.
In less than 24 hours, this place will be hosting a mega #WWC17 semi-final pic.twitter.com/eYjJioIsWq
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Raj recently broke the record of highest runs in ODIs and also became the first women batter to score 6,000 ODI runs surpassing former England player Charlotte Edwards.
