Lanka should pose no problems for hosts

NEW DELHI, December 8: No Diana Eduljee, no Sandhya Aggarwal, no Rajni Venugopal. The new-look Indian women's team, with nil international ...

NEW DELHI, December 8: No Diana Eduljee, no Sandhya Aggarwal, no Rajni Venugopal. The new-look Indian women8217;s team, with nil international matches in the last year-and-a-half, open their campaign in the Sixth Hero Honda World Cup against Sri Lanka in Group B at the Ferozshah Kotla, here tomorrow.

8220;It has been a long wait,8221; said Indian captain Pramila Bhatt. 8220;It8217;s indeed worrying, but we have had a good domestic season to compensate for that.8221;

Pramila is one of the five players in the present squad who figured in the 1993 World Cup when Indian finished fourth. The others are Anju Jain, Poornima Rau, Chandrakanta Ahir and Sangita Dabir.

The Indian practice was confined to matches against local clubs and under-19 teams. They have been through five camps and for the past fortnight they have had nets in Delhi, the hosts, rated as one of the favourites, exuded confidence.

The lack of match practice for the Indians would hardly seem an unfair advantage, considering their rivals in the opening match, Sri Lanka, will be playing their first-ever international match.

India should have little problems and Lanka 8212; they did not have a team till a year back and decided to participate in the World Cup only in June 8212; will do well to extend India.

The most experienced duo in the side, skipper Pramila and her predecessor Poornima, will share most of the workload. Pramuila also expects good performances from left-arm spinner Neetu David, batswoman and brilliant fielder Chandrakanta Ahir and wicket-keeper-batswoman Anju Jain and Sangita Dabir. Of these, only Neetu is a first-timer in World Cup.

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In comparison, all that the Lankans seem to have on their side is enthusiasm.

But Pramila is not underestimating them. Sri Lankan coach Guy de Alwis feels his girls should do well despite being newcomers to the game.

Teams:

India: Pramila Bhatt captain, Chandrakanta Ahir, Anju Jain wk, Anjum Chopra, Sangita Dabir, Purnima Rau, Renu Margerat, Purnima Choudhary, Shyama Shaw, Smitha Harkrishan, Neetu David, Deepa Kulkarni, Kalyani Umbrani, Reshma Gandhi wk.

Sri Lanka: Vanessa Bowen captain, Rasanjali de Silva, Rose Fernando, Kalpana Liyanaarchchi wk, Thilaka Gunarathe, A Indralatha, Vasanthi Ratnayake, Sudarshini Sivanathan, Hiruka Fernando, Chamani Seneviratne, Gayathri Kariyawasam, Thanuja Ekanayake, Ganga de Silva, Ramani Perera.

Group A: England, South Africa, Pakistan, Denmark, Australia, Ireland

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Group B: India, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Sri Lanka, West Indies

India8217;s World Cup fact file

Most runs: Fowzieh Khalili 258 in 13 matches; av: 19.84

Most wickets: Diana Edulji 31 in 22 matches; av: 14.51

Most stumpings: Fowzieh Khalili 14 in 13 matches

Most dismissals by 8216;keeper: Fowzieh Khalili 21; 7 ct, 14 st in 13 matches

Best partnership: 72 between Sandya Agarwal 42 and Anju Jain 32 for the first wicket, against the Netherlands at Beaconsfield England in 1993

Highest number of appearances: Diana Edulji 22 matches

Best batting: Anju Jain Runs 130, Highest: 84, av: 65.00, one 50

Best bowling: Purnima Janardhan wkts 13, Runs 110; av: 8.46, Best: 4-26