Women's T20 World Cup: Lisa Sthalekar expresses faith in India's chances

NEW DELHI: Former Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar said India have the all-round depth to secure an elusive ICC title during the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup. The global showpiece will be held in the UAE from 3 October, 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 semi-finals 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 semi-finals, if not 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 supported her argument by citing good options throughout India's line-up.
"India have got power, depth, decent bowlers, and if their number 4-7 batters can score at a good strike rate, they will be in a strong position. They need a good start from the openers.
"Jemimah Rodrigues did well in the West Indies (in the CPL) recently. It will be fascinating to see how she performs in the World Cup," she said.
Delving deeper into the chances of the Harmanpreet 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 World Cup, Poonam Yadav took four wickets in the first game and dismantled the Australian middle order. India won that match by 17 runs.
"If any top-order Indian batter scores a century or if the 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 the ICC's decision to offer equal prize money in men's and women's World Cups, the 45-year-old said it would have a significant 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 winners getting the same prize money as their male counterparts 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 also an effort at growing the global game," she said.
She used Scotland to illustrate 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 in the game over the last decade.
The Indian-origin Aussie described the effort she put in to reach the higher rungs of her career 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 Eden Gardens in 2015. Some 70,000 screaming fans were there, and I had to do an interview with Gautam Gambhir," she said.

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