IND v ENG: Need more red-ball cricket internationally to change domestic structure, says Smriti Mandhana

Mumbai: For players accustomed to turning out for T20 and One-day cricket, playing Test cricket is a big change mentally and physically. Smriti Mandhana, vice-captain of the Indian women’s cricket team said the domestic structure is more focused on white-ball cricket because of the demands of International cricket.

“Women’s cricket in India, I wouldn’t say is lacking here (in this aspect). To be fair, we have played a lot of T20s and one-day cricket in the last 4 or 5 years. That’s why the domestic cricket structure was formed in terms of getting us the T20s and one-day experience because we had T20 and one-day World Cups more,” Mandhana told a press conference two days before the Indian women’s cricket team take on England in a four-day one-off Test at the DY Patil Stadium here.

So, the domestic structure could be changed only if there is more red-ball cricket played internationally. At present, only India, England, Australia and South Africa play a bit of women’s Test cricket while women’s teams from countries like New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have rarely played the longer version of the game.

“So definitely the structure was designed according to the international demand. And we didn’t play as many re-ball matches — of course, I’ve just played 4 in 10 years. So definitely the more amount of Test matches internationally increases, we can see maybe a new tournament in domestic which will be focused on two days or four-day matches or whatever long-form they decide on. But I think it’s always the international demands, the domestic structure is always designed according to the way the international demands are going to be. So if the test match is increased internationally, for sure, maybe we can see that change in domestic cricket too,” said Mandhana.

With only a few players in the current women’s squad having previous experience in Test match cricket, the Indian women’s team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said they are picking on the brain of Head Coach Amol Muzumdar, who has vast experience of playing the longer version of the game at the domestic level, ahead of the one-off Test against England.

Muzumdar is a legend of Ranji Trophy cricket — one of the most successful batters in First-Class cricket having scored 9208 runs in 171 matches. He has recently taken over the reins of the women’s team and will be guiding the team in his first Test match.

“We have an experienced coach in Amol sir (Muzumdar). He’s played so much of Ranji Trophy cricket and he’s used to playing a lot of four-day stuff. So I think more than, two or three of us, I think he has a lot more experience of red-ball cricket. So definitely. I can see a lot of girls approaching him and asking how his mindset was (for red-ball cricket),” said Mandhana two days before the one-off Test against England.

Besides Smriti, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has also figured in Test matches. She was the star performer when India last hosted a Test match — against South Africa in 2014 — claiming nine wickets for 95 runs as India won by and innings and 34 runs at Mysore.

And they too are chipping in by guiding the youngsters in the team about the nitty-gritty of playing red-ball cricket.

“if they come to us we’ll always be ready to help in terms of whatever is needed. But yeah, I think that’s the only thing which we can do. I think it’s just about applying themselves on that wicket,” she said.

To prepare for the one-off Test against England, the Indian cricketers played a four-day match at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore during a short camp there.

“We did have a practice match and all the girls were part of it. I was not able to play because of a little bit of a physical issue, but otherwise, I think we had a good practice match — a four-day game. I was there to watch it in Bangalore, India versus India A. That was a good preparation to get the girls into the habit of playing red-ball cricket.

“And then we had three days of practice in Bangalore before the girls left for the zonals. So, we did focus on both white-ball and red-ball cricket. And then, of course, our Test match players who were not in the T20 squad, were also in Mumbai practising on their own,” said Mandhana.

Mandhana will be the key batter for India as she had struck a century when India last played a four-day Test against Australia Down Under in 2021. Her knock of 127 is her only century so far in ‘Test’ cricket and the Indian team would like to see Mandhana making a similar score against England in the one-off Test.

That would settle a lot of nerves in the Indian team ahead of the Test match against Australia.

–IANS