Mood in camp positive ahead of must-win game against Bangladesh: Sneh Rana

Mood in camp positive ahead of must-win game against Bangladesh: Sneh Rana

Hamilton, March 21 (IANS) India cricketer Sneh Rana said that the mood in the side was positive despite the defeat to Australia in the previous ICC Women’s World Cup match, and the team was looking forward to the game against Bangladesh at Seddon Park on Tuesday.

India, who were the runners-up in the 2017 edition of the World Cup, have suffered two consecutive losses — to England and Australia — and are currently fourth on the table after three losses and two wins in the tournament.

India will need to win Tuesday’s game and the last league outing against South Africa — and also wait for the results of other league games — in order to qualify for the semifinal knockouts.

Asked whether the team management would make changes to the side for the clash against World Cup debutants Bangladesh, Rana said, “The team management will decide on any changes. However, the mood in our team camp is positive. When you lose a match it tends to lower your confidence. However, as a team unit, we have sought positives out of that.”

Asked about the kind of conversation the seniors and juniors have before and after every match, Rana said the seniors mostly share their experiences, which is a great way to learn.

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:There is always a healthy conversation between seniors and juniors. The seniors never pressurised us as it’s a first World Cup campaign for almost all of us. They always share from their experiences. Even during the New Zealand series, they were planning for upcoming games and they were supporting us.”

Pace bowler Jhulan Goswami’s workload management has become the topic of discussion of late, but Rana said that the stalwart knows how to manage it.

“She (Jhulan) has come a long way and she knows how to manage her workload. She is a legend, obviously, so we do not need to tell her about her workload. The management and medical teams have discussion it and adjust these sorts of matters.”

On her own good performance with the bat and the ball, Rana said her motto was to keep performing and the World Cup was a huge platform to showcase one’s skills.

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“See, when you perform well on such a huge platform, obviously you feel good. When I performed in the first match of my first World Cup, I was pretty happy at that time. However, on such a huge platform you can’t be happy with just one performance. You need to do more and perform well in most of the games. I want to perform whenever my team needs me to perform.”

On World Cup debutants Bangladesh, she said, “If Bangladesh are part of this World Cup, it means they have performed well in the past to be at such a huge platform. I have seen Bangladesh improving. We are playing match by match, irrespective of who it is against – Bangladesh or any other team. We won’t take any match easy. As it’s a must win game, we will give our 100 per cent.”

Indian batting performance has been patchy in the tournament. India scored 270-plus against the Aussies but were below par against England and New Zealand. However, Rana said that ups and downs were part of the game.

“Ups and downs are part of the game in either department. While moving on to the next game, we always take positives from the previous games. Our batting unit is doing well now and hope will do well in upcoming matches as well. We always have healthy discussions. We can’t change the past but we can perform well in upcoming matches as a unit.”

–IANS

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