India have power and depth to make a strong impression in women’s T20 WC: Sthalekar

NEW DELHI: Former Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar said India have the all-round depth to grab an elusive ICC title during the upcoming women’s T20 World Cup.

The global showpiece will be held in the UAE from October 3 and India’s best effort in the event remains a final berth in 2020, where they lost to Australia.

“I can see Australia in the semifinals as they are aiming to win their fourth (title) in a row. England too had a strong pre-tournament build-up. India’s chances are also very high and I expect them to be in the semifinals, if not in the finals,” Sthalekar told a select group of journalists at the ABC – International Development’s five-day cricket commentary and mojo programme at the Australian High Commission.

The former Australian skipper validated her argument citing good options through India’s line-up.

“India has got power, depth, decent bowlers and if their 4-7 number batters can score at a good strike rate, they will be in a good position. They need a good start from the openers.

“Jemimah Rodriguez did well in the West Indies (in the CPL) recently. It will be fascinating to see how she performs in the WC,” she said.

Delving further deep into the chances of the Harmanpreer Kaur-led side, Sthalekar said India have the wherewithal to beat Australia, their nemesis in global events over the years

“For example, in the 2020 T20 WC, Poonam Yadav took four wickets in the first game and dislodged Australian middle-order. India won that match by 17 runs.

“If any top order Indian batter scores a century or bowlers have a good day, they can take the game away,” said the veteran who was the first woman to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODIs.

Expressing delight over ICC’s decision of having equal prize money in men’s and women’s WCs, the 45-year- old said it will have a bigger impact on the game.

“From a prize money perspective, I think it’s really good. But what I am more pleased about than just the winner getting the same prize money as their male counterpart is how much money teams are getting for just participating in the World Cup.

"So, it ensures that it's not just the strong nations getting stronger and wealthier, but there is an effort at growing the global game,” she said.

She used Scotland to leverage her point.

“Scotland coming in for the first time will earn money, probably more money than their national contract. The headline is equal prize money and that was primarily the intention.

“But when you look a little bit deeper, they would like to have a bigger impact on the game.”

After her playing days, Sthalekar has established herself as a respected voice of the game over the last decade.

The Indian-origin Aussie described the effort she put in to reach the higher rungs of her job as a commentator.

“Not everyone has to be a Richie Benaud or a Danny Morrison. But we all have different skills and strengths that we bring to the commentary box. That’s why you have diverse personalities (doing commentary),” she said.

Sthalekar picked commentating during the IPL as her biggest career moment.

“You have to have goals in your career and IPL (commentary) was my 10-year goal as a commentator. But I got a call to be in the IPL commentary team within six months.

“I remember my first IPL game as a commentator at the Eden Gardens in 2015. Some 70000 screaming fans were there and I had to do an interview with Gautam Gambhir,” she said.