Australia could be having doubts if they’re facing India in the knockouts – Mithali Raj

The Indian women’s cricket team will be taking on Australia in the second semi-final of the ongoing ICC Women’s ODI World Cup.

Earlier in the tournament, India fought out a high-scoring thriller against the Aussies, only to see the latter chronicle a record chase.

Australia have been phenomenal in global events, especially in the knock-out rounds. With seven titles next to their name, they will be going all in for the eighth while India will be baring out their arsenal to reach the final. With seven titles in their kitty, it goes without saying that Australia has the mindset which screams invincibility.

Mithali, however, believes that with the WPL coming in, the Indian players might be slightly better prepped considering the fact that they get to spend time with the Aussies.

Talking to ESPNCricinfo, Raj said, “I think it does help if you spend some time in and around them, especially during WPL, because the players then get to know what they think, how their mindset is, what their preparation is in certain situations, while playing in the same team. How do they approach those situations? Do they have a back-up plan? Or how do they take it forward from there?”

She further added, “So I think these experiences definitely have helped the current players, because when I've seen them play in the bilateral series before the World Cup, I think India won a game and did give a good fight in the other game as well, the third one in Delhi, and that was a very high-scoring [match] on that ground. At one point, I felt India was cruising towards winning that game. So maybe I also feel that Australia could be having those doubts when it comes to the knockouts, especially if they're facing India.”

The Indian icon further shared a detailed dive into the insights, stating, “Well, it also gives you insights as to how they think when it comes to certain games. I personally feel that everybody should have at least three to four plans when they walk onto the ground. There are certain players who stick to the plan irrespective of whether it works or not and there are players who are quite adaptive to changing their plan on the field.”

She concluded with her realisation about how the Aussies work, stating, “So you understand how Australians work in and around that, how quickly they change their plans on the field, the game awareness. When it comes to especially the bowling unit, they quickly read the wicket and they spread the word around. It doesn't take time for the bowler to come and then get into rhythm, find the spots that they need to. So this is what I realised, being with the franchise team [Gujarat Giants] for the first couple of seasons.”