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With an eye on next year's ODI World Cup, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels that playing their one-off Test in Chennai against South Africa would be a great opportunity for the side to get familiar with the conditions.
India's women's team last played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in 2007 in the Women's Quadrangular Series. The side played their last Test here in 1976. However, the venue is yet to host the women's T20Is. After claiming the ODI series 3-0, the hosts India will take on South Africa in the Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from Friday. Since the end of 2022, the women's team have been playing their all international matches in India either in Navi Mumbai or Mumbai, till the ODI series against South Africa was hosted in Bengaluru last week. India will host 2025 World Cup which will be played in ODI format. "As a team, it's a great opportunity for us. We are getting used to home conditions... even though they are home conditions, we don't have much experience here. But I think this series will definitely give us a lot of confidence to see how the wicket is going to behave and what combinations we can look for [for the World Cup]. Before the World Cup, with [about] one year left, I think as a team we are taking the opportunity with both hands whenever we are playing home series. It's a great opportunity to see how the wickets are and how we can improve our skills," Harmanpreet said on the eve of the Test as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. India will play its third Test in seven months. In December 2023, they played back-to-back Tests against England and Australia, winning convincingly in both. "In the long format you have to be there [in the middle] for four days. But if you think like that as a player you can overthink. The last time [we played a Test] we only thought about winning the sessions and that really helped us. This time also we will focus on each session. The best thing about Test cricket is you have time to come back. If you lose one session, you always have time to [make up for] things," Harmanpreet said. "That's the key point that our support staff told us: 'just focus on each and every session and if you can [break it] down to two to two-and-a-half hours, think about how you're going to perform as a player'. I think that really helps, [rather] than thinking that it's a 100 overs [roughly per day] game which makes you overthink. Those little points really helped us win the last two Tests and we just want to continue [to apply] those," she added. Harmanpreet stated India will rely on head coach Amol Muzumdar's red-ball knowledge during the Test. Muzumdar, who played 171 first-class matches over a 20-year career, has also played two red-ball matches for Chepauk. "I didn't have much experience in Test cricket when I got to captain those two Tests. Amol sir help me. He has played lot of Test [red-ball] cricket and he has a lot of experience. With his experience, he has helped me with things like how to take decisions on the field. I do have a bit of an idea now," Harmanpreet said. "We don't have much idea about how Chennai wicket is going to play. We have only seen when the men were playing but women's cricket is totally different... the pace, the way we bowl and bat, I think we'll know that only once we take the field tomorrow, see how the pitch behaves and take decisions. The experienced support staff are definitely going to help us," the Indian captain said. (ANI)
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