Australia are focussing not only on the wily Poonam Yadav but preparing to take on India’s spin-heavy attack by practising against “slow spinners” ahead of Sunday’s Women’s T20 World Cup final.
Poonam had bamboozled Australia in the opening game, snapping four wickets to power India to a 17-run win but skipper Meg Lanning urged her side to brace up for other threats including the left-arm Indian bowlers.
“It’s not just Poonam we need to worry about. They’ve got some really good left-armers too, such as Rajeshwari Gayakwad. They’ve got a really strong line-up right through their bowlers and they have spinners who can change their pace,” Lanning said.
“We will be facing some slow spinners at training. We’ll be as prepared as we can be and making sure we adjust to what’s happening at the time.”
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India’s batting also boasts of young Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana besides all-rounder Deepti Sharma and Lanning said her bowling unit has to make the necessary adjustments when coming across India’s good batting unit.
“Obviously Smriti Mandhana is a world-class player too and Deepti Sharma has also played well against us. We feel our bowling line-up can adjust to different things,” she said.
“We are very well prepared for what the game will throw at us. It’s going to be a tough, hard battle tomorrow against India but I feel we are as ready as we can be to take it on.”
Four-time champions Australia are no stranger to title wins. Lanning herself had guided the team to glory at the last edition in 2018 but the skipper said it will be the “toughest battle” and “biggest moment” of her career when she walks out to a sold-out crowd at the MCG.
“We’re not coming just to put on a good show. We’re coming here to win and that’s the attitude we’re going in with. It’s been a long time coming and the build-up to the game is something I’ve not experienced before. It will be the biggest moment of my career,” she said.
“We haven’t played in front of a crowd this big before and we need to deal with that the best we can.”
