Smriti Mandhana urges India to bat with more intent in must-win clash with Australia
Here is the full transcript of Smriti Mandhana’s press conference for the India vs Australia clash
(Reporter:)
Smriti, tomorrow the most important match of the World Cup. So how is the team looking forward? Australia?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
We are all very much looking forward to it. A very important match for us that we have to win. Nevertheless, we will stick to the processes. We’re going to go out there, work hard, work really hard and try to do the best we can. And I’m sure it’s an important match and everyone is aware of that. But having said that, we did well against them and we will take that confidence forward.
(Reporter:)
There is a lot of talk about Harman ahead of every crunch game against Australia and of course she hasn’t given as many runs as she would have liked in this World Cup. So she must be itching to score runs. This is obviously a big game. What did you see about her in the dressing room? How has it been in this tournament so far?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
I think everyone is keen to score and win against Australia tomorrow. I would hate to name one player. I think everyone in the batting unit is raring to go. We talked a lot in the batting meeting about how we really want to go out there and bat with intent. Yeah, it hasn’t happened as often as we’d like, but yeah, having said that, we’re all really looking forward to going out there tomorrow and blasting away.
(Reporter:)
You won your last bilateral T20I series against Australia. So how much of that confidence do you take into this important — which is a game that’s like a virtual quarter-final?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Yes, we have done well in Australia in the T20 format. We take a lot of confidence from that. And I also feel like with the WPL, I feel like the girls are also very well prepared in terms of taking the high pressure games a little bit better than we could before. So I hope that we will take all those experiences and memories and play as well as possible tomorrow.
(Reporter:)
Just wanted to ask, it’s Lords and it’s a double header tomorrow – South Africa, Bangladesh, Australia. How are the girls who haven’t played at Lords and especially Prema Rawat who flew in mid-tournament, how do they feel about playing at Lords?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Well, we’ve just been – just 20 minutes into the Lords. I haven’t seen their reactions yet. I’m sure it’s an iconic playground for everyone. I remember when I first came here, it took me almost 20-30 minutes to see everything on the ground. But having said that, we all know it’s an important game tomorrow, so we really won’t – we’ll take it into consideration. That is a special moment but again when we are playing for India we have work ahead of us and everyone realizes that.
(Reporter:)
Yeah, especially with the incoming test.
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Still a long way to go.-
(Reporter:)
Tomorrow is an important match, are you planning any specific strategy for it?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
I mean, I’m just saying this is my first time speaking in Marathi in the UK at a press conference. But I think I won’t be able to answer in Marathi here, everyone wouldn’t understand.
I say again, I feel that the strategy is only for us, it is about today. We will just come, see the wicket, see what the conditions are like and how we really want to play cricket. But we’ve all talked a lot about how we really want to play an aggressive brand of cricket and that’s something we’ll do tomorrow.
(Reporter:)
Australia have really strong numbers in the overs, how much confidence are you drawing again from your own really good record against Australia and from Shafali?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
I mean, yes, of course Australia is a good team. We’ve always — we’ve always had good games against them. Even as a batsman I always looked forward to them because they are obviously one of the best in the world. Still, we had good success against them. And yeah, for me, I wouldn’t really look back at what happened, what I did against them or what the team did. We all really need to go out and play ball and not for anything else. Neither the situation nor anything else. We just have to play the ball and get the best for the team.
(Reporter:)
And Smriti, your partnership with Shafalim has taken off again. How important do you think it is to the team? And your thoughts on how Shafali is quickly turning into an all-rounder? He even bowls first.
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Yeah, I mean, watching Shafali bat from the other end is definitely a treat. We had a very quiet series in England. We were both really pumped to get back to good starts for India because of course whenever we lay the foundations we are more or less in a good place. And that is what we will try to do and always try to do. So I’m really happy with the way he’s bowling and hopefully tomorrow we can stitch together a partnership.
(Reporter:)
What do you think of his performance in this tournament?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Oh, she was amazing. I think she definitely did that in the World Cup finals, then a little bit in the WPL. I remember she got man of the match for her bowling in WPL. So not that she didn’t, but then again, she was really, really helpful. He has a lot of things for us. And yeah I think just sometimes it’s like a batter, it’s also very similar when Shafali bowls me, I’d also say, well, I don’t know what’s coming. So yes, again she is very useful to have as a pitcher.
(Reporter:)
Looking at the weather conditions here with the ongoing heat wave and India playing the second match tomorrow, do you think the wicket is likely to slow down a bit by the time the second innings of the game comes in, or maybe the spinners will come into play?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Trust me, it’s been 15 minutes, I haven’t even stepped on the floor to actually answer it. Too soon to tell. Of course, the last 2-3 days have been extremely dry in the UK and conditions are changing a lot. But having said that, we will have to see how the ground is and how the goal is, and then only I can comment on that.
(Reporter:)
I saw an interview recently where you said that when you came here for the ODI World Cup in 2017, you had a real respect for the Australian team, how everyone looked up to them and the kind of respect they got. But as you said, they recently won a back-to-back series, last year in the semifinals – do you think the gap between the two teams has narrowed significantly over the last 9-10 years?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Yeah, I mean, I think I was talking about the 2016 World Cup or 2014. I think a lot more than the 2017 World Cup that I was talking about. But yes, again I feel the gap has definitely narrowed because few of our players are playing the Big Bash, they are playing the WPL. The experience has been shared and I feel the kind of cricket the Indian team has played in the last 4-5 years – I wouldn’t say just the last 2 years but I think it’s been a build-up in the last 5-6 odd years of how consistently we’ve played I think. And of course that gap has narrowed and I feel it right now at the moment, especially in T20 cricket. It’s just about who – whichever team has a good day wins the game.
(Reporter:)
And if you don’t mind sharing, how did you chat with Matthew Hayden the other day after the game?
(Smirti Mandhana:)
Well, I looked up to Sangakkara, sir, and Matthew Hayden a lot. I remember going out and watching their videos even on my bad days. So when I saw him communicating in the morning, I’m not generally excited, but I was excited. But yeah, again we had a good discussion about – I really wanted to know a few things about grip and those few things. Again, I don’t really want to go into what we talked about, but yeah, it was a good conversation. And I told him that too when I was chatting before the Aussie in the game. I don’t know if you’d want to do that, but he was really sweet and nice and I think he shared a lot of things that are — I hope I can put them into practice today.