Indian women’s bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi believes the defeat to White Ferns is already behind them and that there will be no big change in approach in the game against Pakistan on Sunday.
“On Friday, whatever happened, Sunday is a fresh opportunity for us. It's basically just believing in your processes, what has worked for you so far,” said the former Mumbai player at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
“We only tell them to stay strong, stay united, and just believe in our abilities, believe in your plans, and get back to it,” he added.
Being an afternoon game, spinners may come more into play but Salvi said the team will be decided after looking at the pitch conditions on Sunday. “We will look at the pitch, heat, and humidity to understand how it will behave and take a call accordingly,” he said.
Pakistan not feeling the pressure
Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana guided her side to a 31-run victory over Sri Lanka in their opening Group A game with her all-round show isn’t feeling any pressure against India.
“There is no such pressure,” Fatima said. “Because there will be a crowd and the atmosphere will be like this, there will be a little pressure on the girls. But we will try to be calm and not take much pressure. When we take pressure, it doesn't go in our favour. We will try to be calm and handle the situation as well as we can.”
Young captain looks forward to face India
Aged just 22, Fatima is leading Pakistan in a World Cup for the first time, said her team has improved batting in T20is with the addition of power hitting coach. Pakistan scored 181 recently against South Africa in Multan.
“If you look at the last series against South Africa, a lot of our girls have improved in power hitting. Personally, I used to bat a lot before, but I didn't know if I could hit or not. Our power-hitting coach has helped a lot of girls including me,” said Sana who shined with 20-ball 30 and two wickets against Chamari Athapaththu-led Sri Lanka side.
“I always wanted to be the number one all-rounder, because obviously bowling is a team sport but the team wins when you are good at it all, even when you are good in fielding."
