The Indian women's team's historic first-ever WT20I series victory on English soil notwithstanding, former Indian women's cricketer and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Advisor Diana Edulji stated her dream was to see the Indian women's cricket team clinch the World Cup to be held in India later this year.
Edulji felt the team winning any bilateral series will have no bearing on the impact of women's cricket and only a World Cup victory will suffice.
"You may win any number of bilaterals. WPL has started as well and we are into the third year. Lot of domestic cricketers are coming through. The current team in England has thrown up new players but I still feel the coming World Cup which is going to be in India in October. I want that trophy very badly and after that I think the turning point was in 2017 when we entered the finals of the World Cup at the Lord's."
"Now, the actual turning point will be winning the World Cup and that is when everybody will take women's cricket seriously. That yes, they are there as good as the men's cricketers and that is my ambition and I would like to see that trophy in the BCCI cabinet," she added, on the sidelines of the MCA's season-opening event at Sharad Pawar Indoor Academy at Bandra-Kurla Complex on Wednesday.
"The game awareness and how to cross that winning line" - Diana Edulji
The veteran prodded the current team to improve their sense of game awareness.
"We should have won the series in the last (third) game itself but unfortunately we fell short by five runs. See that is where we are lacking. The game awareness and how to cross that winning line. We need someone to take responsibility and finish the job."
Edulji explained that fitness and game awareness were critical to the team's growth.
"Everyone must be able to contribute. You cannot depend only on openers or the middle order etc. Everyone has to put their hand up. See the men's team, its not that only one person is scoring. Out of the blue, Akash Deep is coming and taking 10 wickets in the match," she added.
"You have to be alert on the field and off the field" - Diana Edulji's message to Team India
With regard to the World Cup, Edulji said the three key ingredients were again fitness, fielding and game awareness.
"Keep yourself mentally alert from ball one to last ball. Even if you are in a winning position, one over can change the game. If one over goes for 20-25 runs, then that can change the game. So, you have to be alert on the field and off the field. In 2017, we panicked and people didn't know what to do off the field and we lost by eight runs. Those eight runs are only the question of two shots. It's a huge difference."
When asked about the team lacking the killer instinct in crunch ICC knockout games, Edulji stated that was a problem.
"We are missing the killer instinct somewhere. You must learn to play cricketing shots and its not just about scoring boundaries. You have to learn to rotate the strike. You have to be mentally very, very strong," the veteran cricketer added.
