Even when the result didn’t go their way in the first two ODIs, the second came against Scotland on April 14, Sindhu believes this experience alone has taught them a lot more lessons than the young team would have imagined. “It was kind of a historic day for USA cricket to step onto the field to play the ODI even though the results didn’t go our way, but I think there was an effort that was put out for the entire time that we were on the field. We worked hard to try and make it difficult for PNG as much as possible. It was amazing to just be under the lights and some of these kids, play some fearless cricket. So all of this also helps them focus on different from of cricket,” she added.
With ODIs ticked off their box, the next challenge for Sindhu’s side is to qualify for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh via the Women’s Qualifiers. The 35-year-old believes this experience of playing a few fixtures ahead of the qualifiers will play a big role. “When we play the first match of the global qualifiers we would have played about six-seven games. At that time, we would have had a perfect runway towards the global qualifiers and made decisions about how we want to play our game,” the captain mentioned.
After a heartbreaking result in the 2022 global qualifiers, the USA have the singular aim of making it to the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later this year. For someone like Sindhu, it would mean ticking off one more box in her long career, while showing the next generation of players what they can achieve.