We Need To Groom Our Fast-Bowling Department, Pacers Other Than Jhulan Goswami Should Step Up In These Conditions - Mithali Raj

India women’s ODI captain, Mithali Raj, has come down severely on her team after an 8-wicket loss to England in the first ODI in Bristol on Sunday. Apart from the disappointment from the batters, she has demanded more from the pacers, who failed to provide any significant support to veteran Jhulan Goswami, who was the only pacer to pick up a wicket.

Pooja Vastrakar and Shikha Pandey both were expensive and went wicketless as England completed the chase of 202 runs inside 35 overs. Mithali Raj says that she expects her seamers to fare better in pace-bowling friendly conditions in England.

With the 2022 World Cup early next year, Mithali Raj says that more fast bowlers should be groomed in and outside the side, not just for the mega-event, but importantly for the time after Goswami who alongside Mithali Raj herself are expected to hang their boots following the World Cup.

“Clearly, our seam bowling [combination needs changing]. That puts a lot of pressure if you don’t get those wickets. When the spinners come in, a lot of pressure is on them to get wickets and even control runs. It’s not that they’ve done it before, but then [again], they can’t do it time and again. Somewhere, I think, we also need to groom our fast-bowling department,” Mithali Raj said in the post-match presser. 

“Other than Jhulan Goswami, the others who are there in the team, when they get an opportunity, they should be able to step up because these conditions do assist seamers, so they should be able to use these conditions to bowl well. So that’s one thing we really need to work on,” she added.

Maybe a little more shuffle in our batting order: Mithali Raj