Women's World Cup: Mithali Raj expects 'fearless' cricket against Australia

India skipper Mithali Raj wants her side to play 'fearless' cricket in their Wednesday's Women's World Cup encounter against Australia at the County Ground, Bristol.

India have four wins in five games but, unfortunately for a team high on potential, it haven't looked like they have identified the brand of cricket that consistently works for it.

Raj wants her team to play 'fearless' cricket. It's something it has shown itself capable of, in the qualifier win over South Africa back in February and against England in the opening game of this World Cup, for instance.

"We started well, but we have not been consistent with the way we wanted to play in the tournament," admitted Raj.

"The first two games were good for the team, but we really didn't look anywhere close to that brand of cricket against Sri Lanka or Pakistan, and we dipped hugely in the game against South Africa.

"But again, it is just a matter of a few players coming back into form and getting runs under their belt. The standard of women's cricket is such that 200 is not a target that we would want.

“We are looking around 250-plus. To score 250, you need to bat, you need to have your top order getting runs, and not the lower order. If we're playing Australia and we look forward to good cricket and we're aiming to beat them, then it requires us to be at our best in all departments," she added.

Against Australia, India will need to be at its best, not just better than it was in its previous outing, stressed Raj.

She expected Meg Lanning's side to make a strong comeback after its three-run loss to England.

"That's what their attitude is. Australians always make a comeback, they don't give anything easily. We are coming back from a defeat as well, so equally we want to do well."

Squads:

India: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smrti Mandhana, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Poonam, Nuzhat Parween, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma and Sushma Verma.

Australia: Meg Lanning (captain), Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Alex Blackwell, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani and Amanda-Jade Wellington.