Playing franchise cricket is different from playing for country: Raman

India women's head coach WV Raman doesn't believe that countries having franchise league professionals in their ranks gain any definitive advantage in T20 World Cup as playing for country is a completely different ball game.

Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues are the only three Indian cricketers to have played in the competitive Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) but a number of internationals in other sides regularly feature in the popular T20 event.

"Playing franchise cricket is one thing and playing international tournament, where your country features, is a different game altogether. They may be familiar with the conditions but this is a different platform. The pressure element is different," Raman said at the pre-departure press conference ahead of the tri-series involving England and hosts Australia.

The tri-series, beginning on January 31, will be followed by the T20 World Cup next month.

The coach said India have a settled side with good depth, so "all these things put together will negate whatever advantage they may seemingly have."
"That (depth) will definitely help us psychologically. At the start of last season, we did not do well enough in the few games. After that, the unit settled down. Each one of the players had a good hit, they are all in good nick and they have also worked on their skills, which means you do have a fair bit of sense of security and confidence going into this tournament."
Asked whether he was obsessed to win an ICC trophy, Raman said, "I won't use the word obsess but we are keen to do well and in terms of T20 format, so we are looking to put our best foot forward."