'Fielding improvement was key to wins in England'

{ MITHALI RAJ } FORMER INDIA SKIPPER

- Shalini Gupta

The India women’s cricket team created history on the recent tour of England, winning both T201 and ODI series. Mithali Raj, the former captain and legend, analyses the triumphs and looks ahead to the series against Australia and the ODI World Cup India will host later in the year in this interview to HT. Excerpts:

How do you see the series wins even though England did not field their strongest teams in both?

Wins in England are always valuable. The conditions demand adaptability and I thought the team handled that well. What stood out was the clarity in roles and a noticeable improvement in fielding: areas that often go under the radar but matter immensely in a long tournament. With the World Cup approaching, building consistency and depth across departments is key, and this tour showed promising signs.

With ODI opener Pratika Rawal struggling, do you think Shafali Varma’s experience can help against Australia and in the World Cup?