Team India
INDW vs SLW: Ahead of next month's Commonwealth Games, where cricket will make its debut, chief coach Ramesh Powar said that the Indian Women's team is on the "right track".
In the recently concluded T20I series, India emerged victorious against Sri Lanka by 2-1.
In the third and final match, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side stuttered in the middle overs to manage just 138 for five to lose the final T20I against Sri Lanka by seven wickets. But overall, India claimed a 2-1 win in the three-match series, which is seen as the build-up to the Birmingham multi-sport event.
"We touched upon all the bases. Honestly, the wickets were slow, so we were not expecting too many high-scoring games, but the way Harman, Shafali, Jemimah, and Smriti batted, we are on the right track as far as batting is concerned," Powar said.
India thrashed the hosts by 34 runs in the opening T20I match and followed it up with a five-wicket win in the second game.
But Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu denied India a clean sweep as she blasted her way to an unbeaten 48-ball 80 to help Sri Lanka chase down India's 139-run target with three overs to spare in the final game.
"Today Chamari put us under the pump and we should learn from this game and move forward and plan accordingly," Powar said.
Senior bowlers, Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey were dropped for the tour of Sri Lanka, while spinners Poonam Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad were rested.
"The idea behind the bowling unit for this series was to give chances, opening up options. Our frontline bowlers Poonam Yadav, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad were rested for that purpose. We wanted to see how our bowlers handle pressure," Powar said.
"We need to give them a little bit of freedom, Simran (Bahadur) is coming back after a break. All in all, I'm happy that there are options."
Asked about the biggest takeaway ahead of CWG, Powar said: "Winning habit is important. The first thing is about winning the series and we hope to carry it forward.
"The biggest takeaway is the gelling in the team, fitness has also gone up. I could see the growth in players and I hope we can carry it forward. We are progressing in the right direction."
(Inputs from PTI)
