Guha excited by India challenge
England star bowler Isa Guha has revealed her excitement at the challenge of taking on India in a five-match ODI series that begins on Saturday.
Charlotte Edwards’ side, that comprehensively defeated West Indies and South Africa earlier this summer, will face a tough challenge against a strong India side which will be led by Mithali Raj, with both sides also facing each other in a Twenty20 International at Taunton.
“I am really looking forward to the upcoming series. I am interested to see how far India has come since we last played – we have certainly moved on – and they are an equally strong side,” said 23-year-old Guha.
“We have just got to be going out there and win every game of cricket in preparation for the World Cup and obviously we want to keep putting in good performances.”
Guha is relishing the challenge of taking on two of the best players in the women’s game – leading batter Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, ICC Women’s Player of the Year in 2007.
“Obviously, Mithali is a very competitive cricketer. She leads from the front and she is an excellent timer of the ball. We have got some different plans for both of these players which we will talk about in the next few days in preparation for the first game on Saturday.”
“We want to bowl consistently to her and make sure she doesn’t get off to a good start,” said Guha.
The series will benefit from increased media exposure, as one of the ODI matches and the Twenty20 game, which will take place on 5 September, will be broadcast live on television in the UK.
“It is great for women’s cricket because it’s just raising the profile even more and the more coverage we get, the better it is for the game. I am very excited by it,” admitted Guha.
“With two strong sides competing, it will be a great advert for women’s cricket and hopefully they can see England and India are two of the best sides in the world, along with Australia and New Zealand.”
England won 4-0 last time these two sides met in an ODI series on English soil, although India did claim two wins at the Quadrangular Series in 2007 in Chennai before England won the 3rd/4th play-off.
And Guha believes that this series is excellent preparation for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009.
“We really believe as a team now that we can go out to the World Cup and win it. We are taking it every step at a time, taking each game as it comes. We just want to make sure we win every game of cricket,” said Guha.