We're really itching to go out there and bat - Smriti Mandhana

There was a point in time when Smriti Mandhana was in awe of the Australian team - the star, dominant forces of women's cricket. There was a time when she had turned up at Lord's and the stadium had held her attention for 20-30 minutes. Over the course of her playing career, that stadium doesn't enamour as much, and the awe of playing against Australia has faded away - probably less by familiarity than her dominance against them.

Over the past 12 years in international cricket, Mandhana has created a reputation for herself as being one of Australia's most formidable opponents. In ODIs, she hasn't scored more runs against any team as much as she has against Australia; in T20Is, that record is second only to England. Irrespective of the format, she has been prolific and destructive against the best team in the world.

Ash Gardner, the Australian offspinner who has dismissed the southpaw 16 times in ODIs and T20s, may have reasons to wonder what the fuss is all about, but she has herself experienced the ever-evolving game of the Indian southpaw over the years.

Come Sunday's must-win encounter, and Mandhana is 'itching to have a go' at the Australian bowlers - at Lord's. In saying so, she wasn't speaking of herself - she usually doesn't, unless in self-criticism or wonderment. She was speaking on behalf of the entire batting unit.

"Everyone in the batting unit is itching to go," Mandhana confessed, on Saturday, a day ahead of India's last group game against Australia. "We've been speaking a lot in the batting meeting about how we really want to go out there and bat with intent."

But in putting up a brave front, she also admitted that it's not been a batting unit which has carried itself with as much threat in the ongoing England tour. Harmanpreet Kaur has been scratchy, Jemimah Rodrigues has been short of runs, and Yastika Bhatia isn't doing enough to carry forward the momentum provided by the openers.

"It's not happened as much as we would have loved to, but having said that, we all are really itching to go out there tomorrow and bat," Mandhana admitted.

India did post two 180-plus scores in the England series preceding the World Cup, but on one of those occasions, it was chased down easily. In the ongoing World Cup, that stutter has come way too often - even against weaker opponents like Pakistan and Netherlands.

Much of that batting worry has come because of the middle order unable to carry forward the strong starts provided by at least one of the two openers - if not both. Lord's may not be the highest-scoring venue, but there are areas to target. The boundary ropes are likely to be much closer on one side of the ground - where the slope goes downwards. Similarly, the straighter boundaries would be slightly shorter than what they played at in the previous venues.

Irrespective of what front is put up against Australia, their opponents know the pressure India will be carrying in the crucial game. And skipper Soophie Molineux has done her share of talk already.

"We know that there's a bit of pressure on them, and hopefully we can double down on that and put pressure on them as well quite early in the game," Molineux had said on Friday.

In preparation for the game, Mandhana opted not to play up the Australian threat. "The gap (between India and Australia) has definitely narrowed with few of our players playing Big Bash, and them playing the WPL," Mandhana confessed. "The experience has been shared, and the kind of cricket Indian team has played in the last 4-5 years... that gap has narrowed down, and I just feel now at this moment, especially in T20 cricket, It's just about whichever team is having a good day is going to win the match."

However, in saying so, she added that it is imperative that the players don't get over-awed by the occasion and the venue. "We've always had good contests against them. Even as a batter, I've always looked forward to playing them because of course they are one of the best in the world. Having said that, we've had good success against them. I wouldn't really look into the past, what has happened, what I have done against them, or what the team has done. We all have to really go out, play the ball, and not anything else. Not the situation, not anything else. We just have to play the ball and get the best for the team."

Australia won't be an easy opposition to go past; they've rarely ever been. Out of the 24 of the 27 matches they have played across the last five T20 World Cup editions, they have lost only twice. Ironically, two of those three defeats have come against India.

There are more recent contests to remind of their strengths too - the T20I series played earlier this year in Australia, where India secured a 2-1 win. Mandhana hopes to lean on those. "We did well in the T20 format in Australia. We'll take a lot of confidence from that. And also, with the WPL, the girls are very well prepped in terms of taking the high-pressure games a little better than what we could before. So hopefully we can take all of those experiences and memories and play the best we can tomorrow."