Indian women’s cricket team will perform well in Asian Games: Nooshin Al Khadeer
New Delhi (IANS). The Indian team will be participating in the Women’s T20 cricket competition at the 19th Asian Games for the first time after not participating in the 2010 and 2014 editions.
Entering the competition from the quarterfinal stage, India will be aiming for gold at the Asian Games after winning a silver medal in the women’s T20 event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.
Former India off-spinner Nusheen Al Khadeer, apart from having a hugely successful stint as the head coach of Railways, led the Under-19 team to the World Cup title earlier this year.
She also served as the interim coach of the Indian senior women’s team on their tour of Bangladesh in July.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, conducted by Sony Sports Network, Nooshin assessed the Indian team selected for the Asian Games and the tough competition they will face from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Highlights of the interview:
Q. How do you see this Indian team preparing for its first participation in the Asian Games?
A. As an Indian, I would always like India to win the gold medal, because we actually missed out in the Commonwealth Games last year. It is definitely a matter of pride and in terms of the Asian Games, India has always done well in it, we have one of the best teams.
Talking about the team composition, it is quite balanced, especially with the arrival of all-rounders like Pooja Vastrakar and Kanika Ahuja as such players bring a lot of depth to the team and the return of Richa Ghosh has fixed the role of finishers.
So, I think there is a lot of depth in the team from a T20 perspective. Therefore, the captain and coach will have difficulty in choosing the playing-11.
Q. Pakistan is coming off a 3-0 win against South Africa in the competition. Sri Lanka is coming off the back of a 2-1 win over England while Bangladesh have also given a tough fight to India. How tough a challenge do you see him posing for the Indian team?
A. Look, India is not playing in other conditions. They are going to play in subcontinental conditions, which will favor every Asian team in the competition. Therefore, this can be a challenge for India.
Also, Pakistan’s Alia Riaz is doing a great job. He has scored a lot of runs recently. Bismah Maroof has been in form, while Chamri Athapaththu has played really well.
Recently, we visited Bangladesh and saw that the youth there are impressing everyone with their performance. So, it is going to be difficult, not easy for the Indian team, but it also depends on how we adjust to the conditions.
Q. Smriti Mandhana will captain the team in India’s first two matches at the Asian Games as Harmanpreet Kaur will be serving a two-match ban. How do you see him handling the pressure of leadership in the knockout matches?
A. She has been an experienced cricketer and one thing we need to understand is that she has been Harmanpreet Kaur’s deputy for a long time in T20. I have full hope that she will be successful in this.
Q. How would you like to see the Indian team handle pressure situations in the tournament?
A. Sometimes it happens that seniors take too much pressure. So, now is the time when junior players are getting a lot of exposure through the WPL and some of the burden can be given to the juniors because they have played under that pressure.
Now it really depends on how these juniors take it forward.
India’s live coverage of the Asian Games women’s cricket quarterfinals will take place on September 21 on Sony Sports Network channels and will be streamed live on Sony Liv at 11:30 AM IST.
