India’s World Cup squad will gather in Visakhapatnam on 25 August for a seven-day, skills-centred conditioning camp, the first formal step in their home-tournament build-up.
The choice of the ACA-VDCA Stadium is no accident. Only Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Sneh Rana have played there before—way back in 2014—so coaches want everyone else to get a feel for the place before two key group fixtures against South Africa on 9 October and Australia on 12 October. Lack of match experience at several other venues—Guwahati and Indore come up often—has already been flagged by the support staff, so the more time on unfamiliar pitches the better.
“India would want to go a step further in home World Cup,” Aakash Chopra noted recently, capturing the quietly optimistic mood around the side. The camp, say team insiders, is designed to sharpen fielding angles, bowling plans at the death and the middle-over batting tempo—three areas highlighted in the post-tour review from Bangladesh.
Originally the camp was pencilled in for Bengaluru, yet the Karnataka State Cricket Association could not secure timely police clearance for the Chinnaswamy Stadium. That prompted a swift switch east, while Navi Mumbai joins the World Cup roster in place of Bengaluru—a move welcomed by senior players who have enjoyed healthy crowds there during the Women’s Premier League.
All 15 World Cup players, five travelling reserves and the India A squad set for warm-up matches will train together. The week concludes with two day-night intra-squad games under lights, after which the group heads to New Chandigarh for an ODI series against Australia starting 16 September. Warm-ups against England (25 September) and New Zealand (27 September) in Bengaluru follow, before the World Cup opener against Sri Lanka in Guwahati on 30 September.
