Indian women’s team head coach Amol Muzumdar has said that there is no denying that Richa Ghosh had a lean phase over the past two months, but the fifty in the warm-up game against England ahead of the T20
World Cup would do her confidence a lot of good.
Although Richa scored a brilliant 36-ball 68 against England, she hasn’t had any fifty-plus scores since mid-April and that reflected on India’s series defeats to South Africa and England.
Richa’s flourish with the bat is necessary for the Indian team, especially in case of big chases where the top order might not provide the best start.
“I will not deny this, that she had a little bit of a lean phase. But she is a world-class player. We always had this talk around in the changing room that somebody as good and as talented as Richa, it will require a couple of hits out of the ground and it will all come back,” Muzumdar said while speaking at the pre-match press conference.
India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening game of the T20 World Cup. In three matches against Pakistan, Richa has scored 57 runs at an average of 28.5 and a strike rate of 167.64.
“So, I guess it happened in the last game. And I am glad that we are getting into the World Cup with Richa being in. She spent quality game time in the previous game,” Muzumdar said.
“No doubt, she does a very great job for us at number six, number five. According to the situation, we get her in the game. So, yeah, Richa is a world-class player and she is a mature cricketer,” Muzumdar added.
Alongside Harmanpreet Kaur, India will rely on Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa and Bharti Fulmali to maintain the scoring rate against a strong Pakistan bowling attack, which also includes the economical left-arm spinner, Nashra Sandhu.
