Amol Muzumdar and Sophie Devine pre-match press conference | INDW vs NZW | ICC Womens T20 World Cup

[Reporter:]
We'll probably start with what everyone's thinking about. Is there a dedicated number three now? Have you just zeroed in on one person to fill that slot? Has the warm-up games or anything, just the build-up, given you any clarity on who you're going to slot there?
[Amol Majumdar:]
Yeah absolutely not just the warm-up games but we had already decided back in India and in the in the camps that happened before we set off from Mumbai We had a lovely camp in Bangalore, and we had decided there itself. And these basically pre-World Cup matches absolutely stamped that for us.
[Reporter:]
Is it a surprise?
[Amol Majumdar:]
Not at all. You can guess it. Go through the scorecard, you'll find out.
[Reporter:]
I have a question. I'm not going to ask you who your number three is. I have a slightly different question. In what prompted that experiment to try out different number threes? Like Jemima was a set number three, even in your first couple of series as India head coach. And then, you know, her injury of course. And then what prompted trying different, different options, you know, leading right up till, you know, till you landed in Dubai?
[Amol Majumdar:]
Well, to be very honest, we were, we were thinking of a different combination, that is five batters, one wicketkeeper who I consider as an all-rounder, and then three all-rounders in the team and then two bowlers. So, I thought, we were trying out a few things but in the end I think five-five and one wicket-keeper is a good option.
[Reporter:]
Leading into the World Cup compared to the previous occasions, previous editions, we have a lot more variety in each department, whether it is batting, bowling, India has had that much variety. So how hard or easy it has been to finalise the Playing XI given how many people have performed at different levels whenever they needed throughout whatever opportunities they have gotten?
[Amol Majumdar:]
That's actually a good headache to have. We do have a lot of talent in the team, talent in this 15 and beyond as well. So, as I said, good headache to have. But me, Harman, Smriti, we enjoy that kind of stuff where we try out different combinations and then finally we have figured out the right combination that we are going to play tomorrow. And yeah, I mean, you know, people, whoever has got an opportunity, they have performed at their own numbers, whether it is batting number or, you know, whether it is bowling, they have performed really well and that's why they are there in the team so I think yeah we found the right combination I guess.
[Reporter:]
Amol when you took over as coach looking at the medium to long term you would have identified like a few you know goals or milestones along the journey planning to the World Cup and beyond. Can you just take us through how you've kind of worked towards implementing or you know kind of ticking off those checklists along the way and what are the challenges that have come along while trying to do so?
[Amol Majumdar:]
Well, my journey is not that big so I will be very brief about it. It's only 10 months that I've taken over. The first month we played a series against England and Australia, two good sides in world cricket. After the two series I got a fair idea of where we are and we started our campaign, our World Cup campaign, just post that series. We started putting all our minds and energy towards this tournament and here we are. Along the way, I think we have had a successful WPL, not to forget that. It was a great effort on the part of BCCI that it was a massive success. Then we had a series in Bangladesh. We had a T20 series, five T20 series which was arranged along with the South Africa series. In between we had a camp and then we had a tough South Africa series as well where we won the three ODIs, Test Match, and then squared the T20 series. So, I think along the way we've had a fantastic season leading up to the World Cup. Really looking forward for the World Cup now.
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[@bobburroughs6241]

Unfortunately NZ go into this having been hammered by England and having refused to introduce new players in recent years. There are about 5 Players who are either past it or not good enough.