Fans confused as Wasim Jaffer shares coded message ahead of 2nd India Women-England Women ODI
Former Team India opener Wasim Jaffer has shared a coded message for fans ahead of the second ODI between India Women and England Women, asking them to guess his player to watch out for.
India Women will take on England Women in the second ODI of the three-match series in Taunton on Wednesday. The game will be a must-win one for the visitors after they were hammered by eight wickets in the opening ODI in Bristol.
Ahead of the match, Jaffer took to Twitter to post his coded message, which read:
“Found an old memory card. It surprisingly had photos of duggu's look-alike. #PlayersToWatchOutFor #decode #ENGWvINDW.”
Fans found it difficult to figure out the answer. Some felt it could be India Women skipper Mithali Raj while a few named young batswoman Shafali Verma. Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
Jhulan Goswami backs India Women pace attack to come back stronger
India Women’s pace bowling attack came under the scanner after they managed to claim just two wickets in the first ODI against England. India Women captain Mithali Raj also admitted after the team’s loss in the first match that the pace bowlers need to pick up wickets to reduce the pressure on spinners.
At a virtual press conference ahead of the second ODI, veteran India Women pace bowler Jhulan Goswami backed the team’s bowlers and said:
“Both of our medium pacers like Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar and we have another two pacers in the side, all of them are good cricketers. Shikha is coming back from a break, she was not there in our last series. Pooja is playing after a long time, they need a little bit of time, they will do well.
"They have already proved that they are quality bowlers, they have single-handedly won the matches for India. You just need to give them a little bit of time, they will come back strongly. I have full confidence in them," Goswami added.
The pace bowler stated that it was important for the bowling unit to combine as one as individual performances cannot win games. She explained:
"Honestly speaking, we need to come back as a bowling group strongly. Whatever score is there on the board, we need to come back as a unit. As an individual, you cannot achieve big milestones. You have to come out together as a bowling unit. We have discussed a lot of things, hopefully, we sort it out and we come back strongly."
India Women managed only 201 batting first in the opening ODI in Bristol, despite captain Mithali Raj’s 72. England Women raced past the target in 34.5 overs, with Tammy Beaumont scoring 87 not out and Natalie Sciver remaining unbeaten on 74.