In an online media session here ahead of the Indian team’s departure for the New Zealand tour, Pawar and captain Mithali Raj spoke on a range of issues, including the team’s preparedness.
The Indian team will play a five-match ODI series against New Zealand before the World Cup. The series will start from February 11 while the World Cup will be held in March-April.
Pawar said the team will miss the experience of Jemima, Shikha and Poonam Raut but you cannot select all.
“Every player involved in our plan is aware of himself. We don’t need to communicate with him differently because five selectors, captain and coach have to decide in the matter of team selection. They have discussed the names of all the players and have picked 18 players who can play better in the New Zealand series and the World Cup. ,
India has selected three reserve players along with a 15-man squad for this tour. Batsman Yastika Bhatia, along with inexperienced pacers Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh, have reaped the fruits of their good performances in Australia.
“You cannot choose everyone,” Pawar said. Can carry only 15 players and three reserves. We were seeing something special in fast bowlers like Renuka, Meghna. They are doing well. If they are performing well, they may get a chance in the upcoming matches.
“Yastika, Smriti and Mithali have been doing consistently well in the batting unit so we didn’t change much. Anyone who is not in the team knows why he is not there.
In the last World Cup, the Indian team had traveled to the final under Mithali’s leadership and the captain said that this team has more experience than in 2017.
“There has been a vast improvement in the standard of domestic cricket in the last four years. I have seen many players scoring centuries. Many girls have got a chance to play leagues abroad. Many players have gained a lot of experience from these things. We have more all-rounders now.
The Indian women lost the ODI series in Australia last year but the team managed to score more than 250 runs twice in three matches. Mithali said that the team would like to have the same consistency in New Zealand, for which a top-order batsman will have to play a long innings.
He said, “In the 2017 World Cup, the team scored 250 to 270 runs consistently because some of the top-order players used to play long innings and the rest of the batsmen supported him. Will try to do something similar this time too.