Cardiff, June 11 (IANS) India bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi said the two warm-up matches ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup provided valuable exposure and confidence to the squad ahead of opening their campaign against Pakistan in Birmingham on Sunday.

India, the 50-over World Cup winners, had a mixed build-up to the 12-team T20 World Cup. They lost to South Africa 4-1 before losing to England 2-1. In the warm-up games, India outsmarted the West Indies but lost to England.

“I think these two warm-up games were a good exposure to all of us. We could use this, actually, to express our game plans in the middle. Bowlers could go out there and express their game plans, and batters also. They went inside they tried out their plans.

“See, whenever we, the Indian team, play any game, the first intention is to win the game. Second intention is to give exposure to almost all the players who we think are going to participate in the World Cup,” said Salvi in a video posted on bcci.tv. on Thursday.

India are in Group 1, dubbed as ‘Group of Death’, alongside six-time winners Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and debutant the Netherlands. “I think these two games gave us the chance to go out there and express ourselves. In the West Indies game, we won comfortably. We were defending 180 runs, and we defended it successfully.

“Here also, if you see 170 in a T20 game, we chased down that many when we came as close as getting to 166. It was a good fight back shown by the girls. Each and every segment, whether it was power play or middle overs or slog overs, I thought the bowlers actually operated really well. In the end, we fell short by 5 runs, but still, I thought it was a good fight back shown by the girls.

“From the individual perspective, I think Shreyanka had a brilliant two games. I mean, in both games, she performed really well. Radha getting those two games and getting her over under her belt, and in the first game itself, she got some wickets at a good economy rate. I thought it was a good confidence booster for us. I think Kranti was brilliant,” added Salvi.

Elaborating on gains from the batting side of things, Salvi said, “From the batting perspective, if you ask me, Bharti was someone who used the West Indies game to the fullest. She got her runs under her belt. Today, if you see Richa, the way she batted was excellent. I mean, she almost got us the game. A lot of positives were there in the last two games.

“From the preparation point of view, it’s brilliant. We played a three-match series against England. That was fantastic. Then we got a few days in Cardiff, and then these two couple of games against the competitive sides, I thought it was a good learning curve for all of us.

“Majorly, from the preparation and acclimatisation point of view, the game plans that suit these conditions, you get used to these conditions. I thought that was brilliant. That exposure was brilliant. I think all the girls, I think they are ready for the challenges ahead.”

–IANS

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