AUS W vs IND W: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and others start training ahead of multi-format series

The Indian women’s cricket team has started training ahead of the upcoming multi-format series against Australia.

India and Australia will be locking horns in a multi-format series, comprising three ODIs, one-off day-night Test and three T20Is. The first ODI will be played on September 21.

The official Twitter handle of BCCI Women posted some stills from the training session and captioned the post as: “Prep On ahead of the #AUSvIND series. #TeamIndia.

Prep ahead of the #AUSvIND series #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/zj0o4KWInG

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) September 14, 2021

“Team India departed for Australia on August 28 and upon landing, every member of the touring party underwent mandatory 14-day hard quarantine.

India opening batter Smriti Mandhana has also said that her side loves playing against Australia as the ultra competitiveness of the Southern Stars rubs off on the Girls in Blue.

“We all love playing against Australia because they are one of the best teams in the world and quite competitive. When it comes to Australia, you’re a bit more pumped because the level of competitiveness of the Australian team just rubs off on us and we also start being extra competitive,” Mandhana told The Scoop podcast, as reported by cricket.com.au.

Smriti Mandhana says the Indian side has ‘grown massively’ since with series against South Africa and England #AUSvIND https://t.co/K3bP4gHrdw

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 14, 2021

“Australian wickets have a true bounce and I think everyone loves batting in Australia. No one will tell you they don’t like batting in Australia. We are all just really happy to play cricket, whatever the quarantine period may be,” she added.

India and Australia had squared off in the finals of the T20 World Cup 2020, and it was Harmanpreet Kaur’s side who came up short in the summit clash.

“The team has grown massively. COVID was a big break after the T20 World Cup and a lot of girls had a chance to go back and understand more about their games, where they lack as an individual and come back stronger,” said Mandhana.

“The whole team has worked on their fitness and skills … we are still getting into a rhythm of playing matches continuously but the last five, six months we have been playing cricket and now we are getting back into the match mindset,” she added.