Delhi Capitals’ Australian allrounder opens up about her fielding, her success across formats and levels, and growing up in a cricketing family
Sruthi Ravindranath14-Mar-2025You had an excellent summer with Australia that ended with the Belinda Clark medal. How do you reflect on the season gone by?It feels like it’s been a long summer with lots of cricket, starting with that World Cup [in October 2024 in the UAEI’ve sort of moved series to series, tournament to tournament. There’s so much cricket on so it’s hard to look at it as a whole. Hopefully when WPL [is over] – and we’ve got a couple of games against New Zealand, and then the season’s officially done – I think when there’s a bit more of a break there, then I’ll be able to reflect a bit more. Proud I’ve been able to contribute to especially the Australian team and stand up in different moments, which has been nice.You got going with the ball in the very first match after coming from the Ashes in Australia. What did you have to do differently to adjust to Indian conditions?I don’t think there’s one specific thing. I think I’m quite versatile in terms of the change-ups I’ve got – I’ve got decent pace too – so I think it’s just about assessing the conditions every wicket you play on – even if it’s the same ground, it is a little bit different – and trying to work out what’s working as soon as possible. We’ve got a great bowling attack, very experienced with Kappy [Marizanne Kapp] and Shikha Pandey as well, who often start us off really well and [I] can get some good information from those guys before I come on, sort of more through the middle. But enjoying the challenge of often batter-friendly conditions and trying to navigate through a bowling innings when batters are going hard, and the boundaries are pretty short and the outfield’s fast too.You have an effective offcutter, which you’ve used quite a bit in these conditions.I think [I developed it] early on in WBBL when I was really young. I realised I had to work on a change-up to make it a little bit harder for batters. So I’ve got a couple of change-ups now. The offcutter is my go-to one early.Related
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Given my action, it was probably the easiest one to bank on. But I think I’ve definitely worked on it to make sure no matter what kind of conditions I’m playing in, it can work. I’ve got really good control over length, and I think it’s a big one for me to be able to use it in any condition and any format.Are there any other variations you have an eye on?Not that I’m willing to reveal . I’m always working on different things, but that’s for everyone to see on the field.Your fielding, specifically the catching, once again stood out in the WPL. Is there any specific training you do for catching under lights?It’s probably more about volume, trying to get comfortable under the lights and get used to the conditions. I think every stadium’s a bit different where the lights are at. The ball can get caught in the lights so it’s about just kind of picking up the depth. It can change or vary depending on the ground. So it is also about challenging yourself and not just practicing easy catches. You want to be dropping catches at training because that means they’re hard and you’re going to be ready for the game. That’s how I think about it.What makes Delhi Capitals such a good fielding side?We’re a really athletic team. Even someone like Niki Prasad – she’s young, but you can see how well she moves in the field. She’s taking some really high-quality catches and doesn’t look out of place at all. I think that’s no fluke. Everyone puts in a lot of time as they should, because it’s such a key part of the game, particularly in T20 cricket. It can turn a game and the momentum can shift. We know how important that is. It’s something we pride ourselves on at Delhi Capitals, that we want to be the best fielding team in the competition. I think we’re up there at the moment.How does WPL compare to the challenge of playing in the WBBL?Culturally, there’s a significant difference with the Indian local players. I’ve really enjoyed spending time and getting to know [them], that’s a pretty cool part of playing the WPL. The WBBL has gone for ten years now. I think domestic players [there] are probably a bit more experienced. I think they have a certain level of calmness about them – which I think the Indian players will keep improving on – given the amount of cricket the Aussie girls have played at that professional level. I think the more you play, the better you get in different pressure situations.Annabel Sutherland has taken eight wickets in as many games going into the WPL final•WPLObviously, the crowds are insane over here. It’s been lots of fun to play in front of some really good crowds with lots of noise at the Chinnaswamy [in Bengaluru]. The last game we played against RCB, it was super loud and we were able to quieten the crowd in our batting innings, which was nice. The crowds are certainly a highlight playing over here.You were part of Australia’s T20 World Cup win at the MCG in 2020. Coming to the Chinnaswamy, would you say the stadium atmosphere was on par? Did you feel intimidated by the crowd at any point?Not intimidated. I think you’re going to embrace it. It’s definitely part of the game, particularly in India. They’re probably louder than 86,000 at the G. They put up pretty good competition for that in terms of noise, but atmosphere-wise, it’s pretty hard to go past the MCG final.With the ODI World Cup coming up in India later this year, how important is it for you to play the WPL, especially in venues like Vadodara and Lucknow?The key part of a World Cup is you’re moving around changing venues. You want to get as much intel as you can before playing the game. I think it’d be at the back of everyone’s minds that [the World Cup] is coming up.As a youngster, what are the pressures of playing in a team like Australia where the standards are so high?I think that’s all external pressure, to be honest. We’ve got a really good environment in our Australian team. We know how hard everyone works, and we set our own standards probably higher than the external people do. That’s all the training and the work we do behind the scenes. I think cricket’s a tough game. We pride ourselves on our standards, so the pressure is kind of external noise.The Australian team’s depth is incredible. Would you say that perhaps puts you under pressure a little bit, that there’s always someone behind you?Yes, I think so. But I think if you’re doing the work, that’s all you can do at the end of the day. It’s a positive sign of where Australian cricket is at. There’s so much depth and our domestic cricket is really strong. We’ve seen with injuries and different things that happen that we’ve got great coverage across the country. Yet, at the same time, you got to be working on your game all the time trying to get better, because there’s people that are knocking on the door who are pretty hungry to play for Australia. That’s why you got to work hard and I know everyone’s doing that at the moment.Annabel Sutherland and Meg Lanning were part of Australia’s T20 World Cup win in 2023•Getty ImagesYou’ve played together with Meg Lanning for Victoria, Australia, Melbourne Stars in the WBBL and now at Capitals in the WPL. Is there anything as too much Meg Lanning? How big is it for you to play alongside her and pick her brains?There’s no such thing as too much Meg. She’s a superstar of the game. Just being able to play under her… she’s had a big impact on me. She’s super competitive. I love the way she plays the game. She would do anything to get the team over the line and get a win. I love that she trusts her instincts. She’s got a real good intuition of the game and more often than not she gets the right call.You grew up with a lot of cricket around you, with your father being involved in the sport and your brother playing professionally as well. How competitive were you with your siblings growing up when it came to cricket? Have you ever hit a saturation point with the game?Having two brothers sort of means everything’s going to be pretty competitive. We all loved sport growing up. In the backyard, there was a lot of competition, a few tantrums – that was all part of it. Cricket was one of the sports we played a lot, and we all love it. That [is why] we are still playing it now. It’s a nice thing to share with my siblings.I think it’s important given how much cricket’s on at the moment to have a healthy balance in terms of when you do get time off, whether it’s days or weeks between tours and tournaments, you need to make sure you have a really good balance of being away from games. I got real good people around me in terms of my friends and family who keep that balance, which is nice.