We want to play aggressive brand of cricket against Australia says Smriti Mandhana

Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana declared that India will deploy an aggressive brand of cricket in Sunday's must-win Women’s T20 World Cup showdown against Australia. Mandhana emphasized that tournament exposure has closed the competitive gap, urging the batting lineup to show intent

London: Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana on Saturday said India will play an “aggressive brand of cricket” against Australia in the must-win Women’s T20 World Cup match here.

India need to beat six-time champions Aussies on Sunday to progress to the semifinals of the showpiece after getting entangled themselves in a two-way tie with South Africa.

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“It’s a big game obviously. We’ve all spoken a lot about how we really want to be playing the aggressive brand of cricket and that’s something which we’ll all look to do tomorrow,” said Mandhana in the pre-match press conference.

However, Mandhana was quick to admit that the Indian batting unit has not often been able to bat to their full potential in this tournament.

“We’ve been speaking a lot in the batting meeting about how we really want to go out there and bat with intent. It’s not happened as much as we would have loved to. But having said that, I think everyone in the batting unit is itching to go,” she added.

Mandhana said India’s outings against the Aussies have seen a steady improvement in the last four or five years.

“We did well in the T20 format in Australia. We’ll take a lot of confidence from that. With the WPL, I feel the girls are also very well prepped in terms of taking the high pressure games a little better than what we could before.

“But, yeah, again, I feel the gap has definitely narrowed. With a few of our players playing Big Bash, the experience is being shared and I feel the kind of cricket Indian team has played in the last four, five years — the gap has narrowed down.”

The 29-year-old also hoped the she and her opening partner Shafali Verma can make a heftier contribution against the Aussies as a pair.

“We had a very quiet series in England. We both were really pumped to get back to giving the good starts for India because, of course, whenever we lay the foundation, more or less, we are in a good place.

“So I’m really happy with the way she’s striking the ball and I hope that we can switch up our partnership together,” she noted.

The elegant left-hander also said her recent discussions on batting with former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara did her a world of good.

“I have looked up to Sangakkara sir and Matthew Hayden quite a lot. I remember even in my bad days, I would watch their videos. So, when I saw him (Hayden) doing the commentary, I got really excited.

“We had a good discussion and I wanted to know a few things about the grip etc. I also told him that chatting before an Australian game, I don’t know if you would like to do that, but he was really kind and sweet. He shared a lot of things, which I hope I can apply to my batting,” she said.