Auckland, Mar 17 (PTI) The shock 2017 World Cup semi-final loss to India might have “reshaped” their “values” but the Australian women’s team haven’t really discussed about that match in recent times, all-rounder Tahlia McGrath said ahead of her team’s league match against the ‘Women In Blue’ on Saturday.
Six-time champions Australia, whose World Cup campaign five years back, ended after losing to India by 36 runs in the semifinals, are currently placed on top of the table with four wins in as many matches.
India, on the other hand, suffered a four-wicket loss against defending champions England after three wins to be positioned at the third spot in the overall standings.
“That was a long time ago, that (2017 semi-final) game, one that probably was spoken about more immediately after that. It was something that we sort of really looked (at) and reshaped our values and how we approached… sort of how we play our brand of cricket,” she was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“But over recent times, it’s sort of not been something we’ve spoken about too much. So we’re just pretty simple with our approach. Take every game as it comes and play the type of cricket that we want to play. So we’re really happy with the brand we’re playing at moment and hopefully more to come.” McGrath was the Player of the series when Australia had defeated India 2-1 in the ODI series and 2-0 in the three-match T20 series at home last year.
“We had a fair bit of success against them in the recent India series (at home in September-October last year). But, it’s a new location, a new tournament, so anything can happen and they’e a world-class side,” she said.
“We will do our homework on them, do big training tomorrow and give ourselves every chance to beat them on Saturday.” The 26-year-old from Adelaide said they are expecting India to come hard at them following their loss against England.
“We sort of expect every team to come pretty hard at us. It’s a pretty aggressive type of cricket teams play against us and that’s why we like it’. So, we’re expecting a big challenge. We’re expecting some hard-hitting and, of course, Jhulan Goswami with the ball. So, we’re expecting a really good game.” PTI ATK KHS KHS
