ICC Women's World Cup 2017: India skipper Mithali Raj expecting plenty of runs at Lord's against England

PTI

New Delhi: Indian eves are all set to take the field with an aim to clinch their first ever ICC Women's World Cup trophy at the home of cricket, Lord's where skipper Mithali Raj is expecting ample amount of runs, today.

Looking back at the tournament, India had notched up 281 runs in their tournament opener against the hosts England. The score was equalled almost a month later, in a rain-truncated semi-final encounter against the defending champion Australia.

For Heather Knight-led side, had amassed 377 runs for the loss of seven wickets against Pakistan, during the league stage. That was their highest ever on World Cup stage.

Mithali Raj is quite aware of the ground, having played there on numerous occasions. Back in 2006, she had smashed up 59 in an ODI match and then a few years later, in 2012 she cracked an unbeaten 94.

The skipper thereby reckons that despite the slope which has troubled the player at crease, runs would flow in aplenty at the Lord's.

"We don't play at Lord's that often but when I last played here, the slope wasn't really in my mind," said Raj.

"If you start thinking too much about the slope and how the ball is going to curve in or curve out, then you forget the fundamentals of your own batting."

"We need to keep it as simple as we have been throughout the tournament and see where it takes us in the final."

"Looking at the wicket, it looks full of runs and any venue where you've scored runs previously always gives you confidence."

"It gives you confidence but you have to have that focus and put in the work to score your runs," she said.