Cut the noise: Yuvi's advice to women's World Cup team
MUMBAI, Aug. 13 -- Playing the World Cup at home brings about a different level of pressure. Given the passion for the sports in the country, no cricket team faces a bigger challenge than India. This season, all eyes will be on the India women's cricket team when it starts its campaign in the ICC Women's ODI World Cup.
At an ICC event to mark the 50-day countdown, former India star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh said the key is to find a way to handle the expectations. He gave them the example of how his team achieved success on home soil in 2011. With captain Harmanpreet Kaur, in attendance along with star batters Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, the player of the 2011 tournament, said "cut the noise" was the mantra set by the team's senior batter Sachin Tendulkar and coach Gary Kirsten.
"I will give you an example of what we felt at that time. Until then, no country had won the World Cup at home and it had been 28 years since we won a World Cup (1983). I remember we tied the game against England and we lost to South Africa (in the league stage), from a winning position. We got a lot of backlash.
"I remember Tendulkar and coach Kirsten coming and having a chat with us - 'From here on what are the things we need to do to win the tournament - no one is going to watch TV; no one is going to read the newspaper (social media wasn't big at that time, now it is even more tough as you have got it on the phone, you can switch it off while the World Cup is on); when you walk towards the ground put your headphones on (while signing autographs and clicking photos with the fans), to focus on the field. While going back to your room, put your headphones back on. Cut the noise and try to do what you need to do to win the tournament," said Yuvraj.
"It's about 'being in the moment and let's try to do this as a team'. We did that and it worked. I am not saying it (the same thing) is going to work for you (women's team) as well. I am just saying that the team has to focus on something which makes everyone believe that 'if we do this it might work for us'," said Yuvraj at an ICC event held in the city.
The multiple World Cup-winner advised the players to keep faith in their experience. "Every time you walk into a game you have to believe you want to win the game for your country. If Smriti gets out, then Harman has to say I am going to shine, if Harman gets out then she should believe that Jemimah is there.
"You have got to believe as a team, every time I walk out to bowl or bat I am the person who is going to make the difference. If all 11 believe that, then the results will follow," said Yuvraj.
Batting great and former India women's team captain, Mithali Raj, said India reaching the final of the 2017 World Cup was the turning point for women's cricket.
"The 2017 World Cup actually transformed women's cricket not just in India but globally I would say, because social media was relatively new (and) the ICC did their part in promoting and campaigning on a larger scale," said Mithali.
"(But) It didn't happen overnight, it is a journey... coming under the BCCI fold, the impact of the 2017 World Cup, the WPL. Records come and go but I have seen the previous era and the current one. I have lived it," she added....
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