Home World Cup can be double-edged sword, can't just relax: Former India women's coach

Former India Women’s Head coach WV Raman has urged the Indian team to stay grounded and avoid complacency of home advantage ahead of the upcoming thirteenth edition of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup. With the advantage of familiar conditions and home support, Raman believes India have a good chance to perform well but has cautioned the team against other competitors who play spin well, stressing that success will not come easily.

The Women’s senior team is yet to win an ICC title and have finished runners-up in ODI World Cup twice in 2005 and 2017. However, the recent white ball series win against England have bolstered India’s chances for the marquee event. Though the former left-handed opener has emphasised that India cannot rely solely on spin-friendly conditions and must focus on performing at their very best.

“Let’s not sit back and relax thinking that because the tournament is in India, because the conditions will be spin-friendly, India can just walk over all the other teams,” Raman said, as quoted by Times of India.

While spin has traditionally been India’s strength, Raman pointed out that other top teams have also developed strong spin attacks, making the competition tougher. “Australia, England and New Zealand also have very good spinners, which means there will be a lot of challenges for India as well,” he added.

India have hosted an ODI World Cup three times, in 1978, 1997 and 2013, and Raman has described the mental challenges of playing a global tournament at home.

“While it is always a fantastic thing to play a World Cup at home, it can be a double-edged sword for there could be added pressure to win every game. It all depends on how the girls handle that,” he emphasised, highlighting the importance of staying composed in high-pressure situations, where India in the past have let the crunch moments get the better of them.

India will host the defending champions for a three-match ODI series just before the World Cup, and last defeated the World’s No. 1 ranked ODI side in September 2021 but have since suffered seven consecutive losses against them.

“They should just take the ODI series against Australia as another series. If they win, it can be a morale-booster because they would then feel if we can do it here, we can do it in a World Cup too,” he added.

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in the tournament opener on 30th September in Guwahati.

India squad for World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud.

Reserves: Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Uma Chetry, Minnu Mani, Sayali Satghare