India is focusing on the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup as they approach the Chennai Test.

Given that Chennai may serve as one of the venues for the Women’s ODI World Cup next year, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur feels that the team has a “great opportunity” to familiarise themselves with the conditions by playing there.

The last time India’s women’s team participated in a quadrangular series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk was in 2007. The pitch hasn’t hosted a women’s T20I match yet, and the last women’s Test match was played here in 1976. All women’s international matches played in India have taken place in Navi Mumbai or Mumbai since the end of 2022. However, Bengaluru hosted the ODI part of the South Africa series last week. India will play three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) against South Africa at the same site after the one-off Test against them that begins in Chennai on Friday.

“We have a great opportunity as a team,” Harmanpreet Kaur remarked the night before the Test. “Even though these are home conditions, we are still getting used to them because we haven’t spent much time here. However, I believe that this series will undoubtedly boost our confidence in our ability to predict the wicket’s behaviour and identify potential lineups for the World Cup. I believe that as a team, we are seizing every chance we get when we play home series in the year leading up to the World Cup. It’s a fantastic chance to assess the condition of the wickets and our own abilities.”

In a span of seven months, this will be India’s third Test. In December 2023, they faced Australia and England in back-to-back Test matches, winning both handily.

Playing those two games, according to Harmanpreet, has assisted the team in kicking the habit of “overthinking” when participating in a format.

“You must spend four days there [in the centre] in the lengthy format. But as a player, you run the risk of overanalyzing things. When we played the Test the last time, our entire focus was on winning the sessions, and it really helped. This time around, we’ll concentrate on every session. You have time to return, which is the finest thing about playing Test cricket. You always have time to [make up for] things if you miss one session.

This is the crucial advice that our support staff gave us: “Just concentrate on each and every session, and if you can, try to limit it to two or two and a half hours. During that time, consider how you will perform as a player.” That actually helps, in my opinion, as opposed to overthinking the game by assuming it has 100 overs [approximately per day]. We simply want to keep using those small details since they were crucial in our victories in the last two Tests.”

Prior to the Test, India will be depending on head coach Amol Muzumdar’s red-ball experience, according to Harmanpreet. In his 20-year career, Muzumdar participated in 171 first-class matches. He also participated in two red-ball games in Chepauk.

“I didn’t have much experience in Test cricket when I got to captain those two Tests,” Harmanpreet stated. “Amol Sir, please assist me. He has a great deal of experience and has played a lot of Test [red-ball] cricket. His expertise has been helpful to me in areas like making decisions while playing the game. Now, I do have a vague notion.

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“We’re not too sure how the Chennai wicket will perform. The pace, the way we bowl and bat, and the nature of women’s cricket are completely different from what we have seen when the men have played. I believe we won’t really understand this until we take the pitch tomorrow, observe how the wicket behaves, and make choices. The knowledgeable support team will undoubtedly assist us.”