New Delhi, Sep 19 – Australia’s off-spin bowling all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner acknowledged that their huge 102-run loss to India in second ODI showed how big a “powerhouse” the hosts’ are in women’s cricket. Australia’s 102-run loss in the second ODI in New Chandigarh was their heaviest-ever defeat by runs in the 50-over format, as India levelled the three-game series scoreline 1-1. Ashleigh also said the defeat offered some valuable lessons to the visitors’ and has backed Australia to give a strong response in the series decider on Saturday.
“Sometimes not necessarily a wake-up call, but I think it kind of shows the powerhouse that India are and the strength that they possess. There’s no denying that we need to play our best game of cricket and we’re okay with that. There’s plenty of learnings to take out of that, going into what is such a huge campaign for us. So making sure that we’re learning in each opportunity that we have.” “Obviously we have three fantastic ODIs to get what we want right and then it just wasn’t to be in the last game. So we got outplayed in all facets of the game and I guess looking forward, there’s plenty of things that we can change going into tomorrow’s match,” said Ashleigh in the pre-match press conference on Friday.
With the decider set to be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium – hosting its first women’s ODI in nearly 29 years – Ashleigh stressed on the importance of adapting quickly to unfamiliar conditions. The only previous experience Australia players can draw from featuring in the stadium has been during second half of WPL 2024. “Looking at last game and knowing that we’ve got a lot of games at different venues that we’ve never played at, so making sure that we’re adapting on the run. Going into a series (decider), it doesn’t necessarily go towards World Championship points, but I think in terms of going into what’s a huge World Cup, we obviously want to win as many games as possible.”
“So going into a series decider is fantastic for both teams. There’s obviously a lot to play for coming to a new venue as well. A lot of us haven’t played heaps of cricket here, but we’re looking at T20 cricket to kind of reflect on. So making sure we’re trying to adapt on the run and then take a lot of learnings out of last game and then hopefully implement them tomorrow,” she elaborated. She also praised India’s bowling plans, particularly their use of straight lines and tight fielding placements in second ODI. “I guess my learnings personally from the first game into the second game is making sure that you keep the stumps in play for as long as possible and I think that’s what the India bowlers did in the second game probably in comparison to the first game.”
“I think they made it really hard for our batters to score at times, they set really straight fields and then bowled really straight – so you kind of had to manufacture I guess the angles that you needed to try and hit. So I guess for our bowling group going forward, there’s plenty of learnings out of that, and making sure that you kind of shut down one side of the field.” On the availability of left-handed opener Phoebe Litchfield, who missed Wednesday’s game due to a low-grade quad strain, Ashleigh said, “Pheebs is at training today and she’ll be assessed later today. So I don’t have an answer for you for that one.”
The all-rounder also spoke about the emergence of young India pacer Kranti Goud, who picked a three-fer in the second game and established herself in the team since her debut in May this year. “She’s obviously a great young bowler. I faced her in the WPL a couple of times and I think she’s actually improved a lot since then in what’s been a really short space. To see the depth that India has, it’s obviously fantastic for them.” “But for us making sure that when we do face new bowlers, we do our research on them and make sure that we’re not surprised when we come up against them and it’s probably an area that we’ve spoken about before.”
“There’s lots of teams around the world that tend to have new bowlers that we’ve never seen or when we don’t play a lot of teams consistently, there’s names that kind of come up here and there.” “So she’s obviously one of those and luckily we’ve faced her a little bit in the WPL and then making sure that we have our plans for each different batter. We’re going to attack her differently and making sure that we’re really positive in doing so,” she said.
In the two ODIs in Chandigarh, a majority of Australia’s players were struggling in coping with the heat and Ashleigh acknowledged the visitors’ are still trying to adjust to this. “Obviously some players are probably feeling the effect of the heat more than others. That’s just people regulating their body temperature.” “There’s probably no clear answer for that, but I guess what our staff are trying to do is trying to mitigate that for us. Whether it’s ice bathing before a game, and trying to cool your body temperature down before you actually walk out into the field.
There’s plenty of ideas and things that you can try and do to not feel the heat as much as possible. It is quite tough out there, there’s no denying that.” “But I guess when you get the opportunity to take those breaks, making sure that you’re refueling and getting that hydration in to not let that impact you. Because ultimately I feel like when you’re under fatigue, you make wrong decisions sometimes.” “So making sure that you’re really clear in your thinking and whether that’s taking a little bit more time out of the game, just to catch a breath or really clear mind about that next ball that you face or the next ball you bowl,” she concluded.
