Harmanpreet and Healy - different methods, same ambition

Harmanpreet Kaur and Alyssa Healy cut contrasting figures at their respective press interactions at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, a day away from the start of their one-off Test.

Harmanpreet had just finished a long batting stint in the nets, taken her pads off and pulled on the white jumper over her training jersey. She looked serious, and gave her answers after a lot of thought. Healy walked into the room with the air of a student confident of topping the exam. She chuckled at the mention of Mitchell Starc and his record IPL auction payday. Her 16 minutes with the press were replete with laughs and wisecracks.

Like when she expressed surprise at India not pushing for a points-based multi-format series at home: "I would have thought India would have backed themselves in their home conditions and got off to a 4-0 start." Or, the "I'll let you know on day four!" when asked if everyone in the touring party had acclimatised to the Mumbai weather.

Harmanpreet was also a picture of focus during training on both the days before the Test. On Tuesday, she first faced a mix of spin and pace in the nets. She then moved to the pacers-only net and batted for a few more minutes before proceeding to face throwdowns. The only breaks she took were to stand behind the nets to observe the others and engage in discussions with head coach Amol Muzumdar.

Towards the end of India's training session, she practiced range-hitting for about 15-20 minutes. Standing away from the right-most practice net, she swung a fair few through the midwicket arc. The focus was on skipping down the track and connecting with the ball with her head as still as possible.

"[Tuesday] was a day we could spend a lot of time in nets. If you are set batter [it's about] how can you charge against which bowler," she said. "Our approach will be to win this game, like last time [against England]. For that, it is not enough to just stay there but score crucial runs for the team. If you start attacking a bowler and have a good defence, you can play mind games with them.

"[Wednesday] was more specific to the match: how to start [an innings]. [Muzumdar] is taking our match preparations seriously and we are also approaching it in the same way. After a long time, we are preparing in this way. Before this, sometimes we just felt that net sessions were on without a purpose. We were not achieving much.

"Since [Muzumdar] has come, we have been specific in our preparations and what situations we can come across in a match and, in that, how can we do the best for the team. He had given us different situations, and everyone was batting accordingly."

Healy's preparations, not just for the Test but cricket in general, has been tricky. She was sidelined after she was accidentally bitten in the finger by her dog in October. The five training sessions since Australia landed in Mumbai were her first after the layoff. But if you were looking for signs of rustiness, there weren't any.

She scored a 52-ball 55 in Australia's red-ball practice match on Sunday against a Mumbai XI, where she hit six fours and two sixes. On the eve of the Test, she faced a combination of Australia's seamers, spinners, and a few local net bowlers for about 20 minutes in pairs with Phoebe Litchfield.

"What the injury gave me is a forced rest, but also an opportunity for a little mini pre-season," she said. "And [I] did four-five weeks of pretty hard physical work to get myself right. I wasn't able to hit balls or catch balls or anything. I was running a lot and was at the gym a lot."

India played only two fast bowlers against England and could be tempted to continue with the same template against Australia. But Healy backed her fast bowlers based on what she had seen of the SG balls that will be used in the Test match.

"The SG balls have been a real fun to play around," she said. "It is a nice mix between the Kookaburra and Dukes ball. It swings a little bit when it is shiny, but if you can keep it in some sort of condition, it swings the whole day. That brings our pace bowlers back into the talking.

"There's going to be a lot of talk about spinners and what sort of impact they have. But I think our pace attack can do some real damage right throughout the day if they get it right. Hopefully our ball-management crew can get that job done."

It is after over 250 internationals that Healy has got the permanent captain's hat, one that Harmanpreet is no stranger to, having led India in over 100 T20Is alone. They come into this Test with contrasting moods and preparation, and very different game plans. In four days, we will know if it is two in two for Harmanpreet or a Test win on permanent-captaincy debut for Healy.