The Indian women’s cricket team will start their preparation for the upcoming World Cup with a week–long camp in Visakhapatnam from August 25. The camp is planned to help the players get used to the conditions at venues where they don’t have much experience.
In another move that could benefit the team, Navi Mumbai has been added to the list of venues replacing Bengaluru. A report in ESPNcricinfo cited it as a positive because Indian players are familiar with the stadium there. They have played many international matches and Women’s Premier League games there.
Visakhapatnam is a venue where only three players — captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice–captain Smriti Mandhana and all–rounder Sneh Rana — have played before.
India will face South Africa on October 9 and Australia on October 12 at the ACA–VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. The team managementapparently is worried because most players don’t have much experience at venues like Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Indore.
The camp was first planned in Bengaluru. The police didn’t give permission to the Karnataka State Cricket Association to host it at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium because of the stampede that happened during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory parade, where 11 people lost their lives.
The full World Cup squad including reserve players and the India A team will take part in the camp which will end with two day–night intra–squad matches. After that, the team will move to New Chandigarh for an ODI series against Australia starting on September 16.
India are then scheduled to play two warm-up matches in Bengaluru, against England on September 25 and New-Zealand on September 27, before starting their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in Guwahati on September 30.
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