The Indian Women Cricket team is all set to take on the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 champions West Indies in the ICC Women’s Championship series which is crucial for qualifying into the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.
The ODI series begins on Thursday with India’s Mithali Raj and WI’s Stafanie Taylor leading the teams at Mulapadu cricket grounds.
“The series is crucial for us as it is a qualifying series for World Cup 2017. We are in the sixth position currently and need to leap out for better position,” said Ms. Mithali addressing a press conference here.
Speaking about the ground and pitch recently developed by the Andhra Cricket Association, Ms. Mithali said the pitch was favourable for batsmen as well as the bowlers.
India’s coach Purnima Rau said it would be a tough fight for both the teams, as it was crucial in the wake of the World Cup qualification and the team was confident and strong enough.
Ms. Stafanie and head coach Vasbert Drakes said their team was confident and keen on the series.
For the World Cup qualification, WI is at third place (22 points) winning 11 out of 18 matches played while India (13 points) is in the sixth place after winning six out of 14 matches played in the championship which began in 2014.
The ODI series will end on November 16 with the third and final match, and T20 series will begin on November 18. The T20 team of India will be headed by Harmanpreet Kaur and Vijayawada girl S. Meghana will be one of the members.
BCCI vice-president and ACA general secretary Gokaraju Gangaraju said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would christen the Mulapadu cricket grounds as ‘Dr. Gokaraju Gangaraju ACA Cricket Complex’ on Wednesday.
Also, the two play fields will be named as ‘Devineni Venkata Ramana –Praneetha Play Ground’ and ‘Chukkapalli Pitchaiah Play Ground.’
