Former India captain and the leading wicket-taker in women’s cricket Jhulan Goswami in a recent interview shed light on how the upcoming series in New Zealand will be important for them before the start of their World Cup campaign. The BCCI has officially announced a 15 member squad for the series and World Cup.
The World Cup in March 2022, will be Goswami’s final appearance in the biggest stage of cricket. After the stellar campaign in 2017 ending in close defeat in the finals, the Mithali Raj-led side will surely aim to reach the ultimate goal this time. It will also be a perfect tribute to the likes of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, the two strong pillars of Indian cricket for their immense contribution to the world of sports.
Jhulan Goswami will also be the ambassador for the upcoming Legends League Cricket in UAE beginning this month. The squad will leave for New Zealand on January 24. The series is set to begin on February 11. On being asked about how the series will affect the chances of India in the World Cup, the Chakdah express said,
“We are getting to play NZ before the World Cup which is great preparation. It will help us get used to the conditions and weather, it is very windy there and we as cricketers need some time to adjust to the conditions. We as bowlers find it tough to bowl against the wind initially.Those five games will allow us to get familiar with the pitches and the weather. All matches are going to be important. We have a squad of 18, if we want to rotate our players before the World Cup (that can be done in the ODI series).We have not played a lot of international cricket, of late. So we will get time to fix our errors before the big tournament.”
Goswami on her furure plans and clash against Pak
The Indian team has not played a lot of cricket together in the recent past. Their last series was the tour of Australia in September-October. 8 of the cricketers stayed back in Australia for the Big Bash League. The rest were part of the domestic tournaments and the Challenger Trophy.
The World Cup which was initially supposed to happen in 2021 was postponed to 2022 because of the pandemic. The tournament might well be the final time the two icons of Indian cricket, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami will be on the field in blue on the biggest stage of the game. On being asked about her career and future plans, Goswami briefly said,
“Well at this moment the World Cup is priority. We have to go and play good cricket. That is the most important thing. Last four years we have been preparing for this and unfortunately, it was postponed. Now the focus is only on this. After World Cup we will see about anything else.Now cases (COVID) are rising again worldwide. We are bit scared in travelling too. When we reach NZ, we can’t make any excuses. We will be judged only on our performance,”
India will lock horns with arch-rivals Pakistan in their first encounter of the World Cup on March 6.
“We are not thinking about any individual team since it is a World Cup. We have to do all well in matches and prepare for all teams,” Goswami said about the high-pressure clash.
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