England skipper Knight gives thumbs-up to multi-format India series

London, Jun 10 (PTI): England’s women’s team captain Heather Knight has said that India will be “very strong” and “hard to beat” in their upcoming engagements at home as she gave her thumbs-up to the multi-format, points-based series.
Under the multi-format system for India’s tour, which features three ODIs and three T20Is after the one-off Test, teams will be awarded four points for a win in the Test with two points for a draw and one for no result. A win in the white-ball matches will be worth two points.
“We always want to put on a show, because we haven’t had fans in there for so long. India are a very strong side and naturally there will be a contest there and they’re going to be hard to beat so I guess that will hopefully be fun to watch,” Kinght was quoted as saying in Cribuzz.com.
The one-off Test against India, scheduled to be held from June 16-19, starts an important summer for Knight’s team that has an Ashes series followed by a World Cup title defence in New Zealand.
“Starting against India, a very strong side, a team that’s been really successful over the last few years and they’re going to be a really big test for us,” she said. “We’ve got a huge year next and the start of that development and getting the girls in the right place, getting the team in the right place and getting the right people in the right positions is going to be really clear in our preparations this summer obviously going into next year.
“It is no secret that this Test is a huge part of our preparation going into the Ashes Test match away from home.”
With the women rarely playing Test cricket, it is akin to stepping into the unknown for both the teams, especially India who last featured in the traditional format in 2014.