India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana Has said that the team will adopt an aggressive approach when it faces Australia in its important match of the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday. With a semi-final place at stake, India know that a win over the six-time champions will almost certainly secure their progress after being in a tough competition with South Africa. Speaking ahead of the crucial clash, Mandhana admitted that India’s batting unit has not performed as consistently as they would have liked so far in the tournament. “Obviously it’s a big game. We’ve all talked a lot about how we want to play really attacking cricket and that’s something we’ll be looking to do tomorrow as well,” he said.Mandhana believes that India has significantly reduced the gap with Australia over the years due to increased exposure in franchise cricket and experience in high-pressure matches. She pointed to India’s recent success in Australia and the impact of tournaments like the Women’s Premier League.“We did well in Australia in the T20 format. That will give us a lot of confidence. With the WPL, I think the girls are very well prepared to take on high-pressure games a little better than before,” she said.“But, yes, again, I think the gap has definitely reduced. With some of our players playing the Big Bash, the experience is being shared and I think the kind of cricket the Indian team has played in the last four, five years – the gap has reduced.”

Mandhana reveals secret on Shafali

The left-handed opening batsman also expressed hope that he and Shafali Verma can give India a strong start against Australia after struggling for consistency in recent matches.“We had a very quiet series in England. We were both really excited to give a good start to India because, of course, whenever we lay the foundation, more or less, we are in a good place,” Mandhana said.He also revealed that conversations with former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara have helped him improve his batting.“I have watched Sangakkara sir and Matthew Hayden a lot. I remember even in my bad days, I used to watch their videos. So, when I saw him (Hayden) doing commentary, I got really excited,” she said.“We had a good discussion and I wanted to know some things about grip etc. I also told him that when chatting before the Australian game, I don’t know if you would want to do that, but he was really kind and sweet. He shared a lot of things which I can hopefully apply to my batting.”