Though the team’s head coach—Ramesh Powar—has certain plans and targets to counter the hosts’ strategy, Mithali, 38, who scored 7,304 runs in 217 ODIs, has not set any individual goals for herself.
Mithali Raj and Ramesh Powar
Indian women’s team Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj will embark on one of the toughest challenges when the visitors lock horns against World No. 1 Australia in the opening ODI at Mackay today.
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Though the team’s head coach—Ramesh Powar—has certain plans and targets to counter the hosts’ strategy, Mithali, 38, who scored 7,304 runs in 217 ODIs, has not set any individual goals for herself.
“I have not set any benchmark for myself in this series. I have always felt that however I am playing, at the end of the day, my performance has to help the team to do well. To end up winning…that’s what I have always played for. To go there and perform and see that the team wins, that’s what I am looking at,” Mithali told mid-day during a virtual press conference on Monday.
Also Read: Mithali Raj: Confident of a fruitful outing in Australia
Banking on Jhulan
But, Powar, the ex-India off-spinner, who represented the country in two Tests and 31 ODIs, feels that team must score 250-plus and wants pacer Jhulan Goswami to strike in the opening spell against Aussies in the three-match ODI series.
“As a batting unit, we want to score above 250 consistently and we had planned towards that. We are trying to bowl out the opponents so we are trying to use experienced bowler Jhulan upfront to give us opening breakthroughs. We expect the senior players to guide youngsters and drive the team which they are doing quite well,” Powar remarked.
Harmanpreet injured
Mithali will miss the services of vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur at least in the first ODI as she suffered a thumb injury a few days ago.
Also Read: Mithali reclaims No. 1 spot in ODI rankings
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