PANAJI
With their inspirational captain Shikha Pandey away at the India camp in preparation of the tour to South Africa, Goa Women have to contend without their star all-rounder, who pretty much single-handedly guided her side to the Senior Women’s Super Elite T20 League with back-to-back wins.
Based on most recent premises from their Group A performance at GCA Academy ground, Porvorim, Shikha in the thick of things doing the bulk of scoring, guiding her side over the line carrying her bat with unbeaten knocks of 92 and 55 against Bengal and Madhya Pradesh recently.
In her absence from the Super Elite T20 leg, the rest of the Goa Women have to step up the plate and play to their potential. A seasoned campaigner like Sunanda Yetrekar -- who is expected to take over the reins -- has to bring her A-game to the fore on a consistent basis with the bat as with the ball. Her recent outings at the crease have not been inspiring, apart from a decent contribution in the opening clash against Uttar Pradesh. Her leg-spin bowling was also a let-down, leaking runs too many.
Sanjula Naik, who was pitch-forked to open in the course of the Elite T20s in Goa, needs to be careful of her shot selection. She has the wherewithal to make runs at a good clip if she plays to her potential. Meanwhile, stumper Vinavi Gurav who formed a solid opening pair with all-rounder Nikita Malik in the preceding senior one-day league in Bengal last month, need to put up their hand in unison.
Also, Goa Women would be served well to give more overs to their power-hitters in Bharati Gaonkar and Santoshi Rane, particularly in the game’s shortest format. With more time on hand, they can strike it big in the tail-end of the innings. The effervescent Sindiya Naik, who did 12th men duties in the Goa-leg would be expected to be drafted in the playing XI with Tejaswini Durgad replacing Shikha Pandey in the 15-member squad.
Slow left arm bowler, Rupali Chavan is expected to continue her fine showing while senior pacer Santoshi Rane’s return to form with wickets and miserliness in the last match against Madhya Pradesh should bode well to the attack. Malik who is expected to open the bowling in absence of Pandey would do well to restrict the run-making and necessitate the mistakes from the opposition.
Goa Women play an undefeated Group B toppers Maharashtra in their opening Super Elite T20 opener at Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana, Kandivili, Mumbai at 2 pm
on Tuesday.
