India’s women’s team is currently struggling in South Africa. Tonight they are playing the fourth game of a five-match rubber, having lost the previous three and thus the series. The Indian bowlers have not had much impact so far, especially in the powerplay, but it’s not something head coach Amol Muzumdar is overly worried about.
The Indian women have taken just one wicket so far in the powerplay, and South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt has been particularly after them with two fifties and one century. In the third match, thanks to her ton, South Africa chased down 192 comfortably, the third-highest chase in T20I history.
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“If you look at the series from the Indian perspective, I think our main concern would be wickets in the powerplay, and we’ve had a real good chat about it, a real good meeting about it, and that’s one of the concerns of this tour that has propped up, but I’m sure the bowlers and everyone is capable enough to come up with goods in the future games,” icc-cricket.com quoted Muzumdar as saying.
“I think there’s not much of a concern as far as the senior players are concerned, as I said earlier, the only thing that we were really focusing on, when we have done well in T20 cricket in the last 2 years, we have managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals.
“I think that was one of the key things of this series, that we haven’t picked up enough wickets, and we are well aware of it, and we have addressed that,” the former Mumbai first-class player said.
Olympics are far!
Late this year, in June, India will head to England for the T20 World Cup. An event the team has never won. And there is also the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where cricket is returning after 128 years. When asked how important the Olympics were for his team, Muzumdar refused to look that far.
“There’s no doubt about the Olympics, but they are a couple of years away. So, our whole focus and whole energy is focused towards June 2026, rather than thinking about 2028.
“It would be a marquee event for sure. Women’s cricket in the Olympics would be a highlight of it, as far as cricket is concerned. We would be looking forward to it.
“But at the moment, what we are really focusing on is the T20 World Cup, which would be held in England in June 2026. The whole focus and our energies are towards that,” he said.