Internet Desk: India may be more familiar than Australia with surroundings in Derby but Nicole Bolton is confident the world champion can win anywhere if its produces its best cricket.
Mithali Raj’s side has won all four of the games it has played at the County Ground, where India meets Australia in the second ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 semi-final, including against host England in the opening match of the tournament.
But it was Australia who came out on top when the two sides met at Bristol in the group stage as Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry both made unbeaten half-centuries.
Skipper Mithali Raj has been in fine form with the bat herself though, scoring 356 runs in seven innings and becoming the first woman to surpass 6,000 runs in one-day cricket in the process.
She scored 69 in defeat to the Australians earlier in the competition but knows that counts for nothing when India meets the reigning world champion on Thursday.
“It’s all about how the teams respond to the situation and the conditions on the day,” she added.
“How the players play the situation is important because having said that Derby is our home ground, you need to perform on that day to win.”
“We’ve played a lot of the group stage here, four games, so we are aware of the conditions and that is our advantage.
“But Australia is a very good side. They won the last edition of this tournament and they have a lot of players who have played in high-pressure games.
“But for this Indian team, it is going to be a big game and if we can pull out one win, it will be exceptional by the team.”