Blackwell inspired by Dhoni-Kohli's art of running

When it comes to running between the wickets, the understanding between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli inspires Australian women's team all-rounder Alex Blackwell.
Blackwell has had a quiet tournament after her unbeaten 42 against South Africa in their opening World T20 match.
She hoped to turn it around with focus on singles and doubles come the big match Sunday.
"I will be looking to practice good cricket shots in front of the wicket, looking to turn ones into twos. Perhaps I gain some inspiration from Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni and the way they have approached the middle overs, that's my job to make sure to turn ones into twos and put pressure on the outfielders," the 32-year-old said on the sidelines of their practice session at Eden Gardens today.

"It's not always about clearing the ropes, that's not really my game. Yes, I'm a boundary hitter but it's about running hard. My job is really to have an impact in the middle-order to upset the opposition bowlers."
Known for improvising shots, Alex was seen with an unusual stance way outside offstump during their semifinal victory over England, similar to Aussie captain Steve Smith's style.

But Blackwell in a lighter vein claimed that she was practising that unusual stroke much before Smith.
"I will try to show some interesting shots, maybe you have seen a few of those. One was described as a 'Steve Smith shot' but I'm pretty sure I'm doing that a little longer than he has, got a few years on him," she smiled.

"I will bat a little differently than rest of our team. I would like to be a 360-player. Sometimes in these conditions you don't get to play behind square shots."
Echoing sentiments of India captain Mithali Raj and West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor, Alex too called for equal pay and said in five years' time they would be a standalone product.
"Gender should not determine your pay. I do agree with equal pay. In the business of sport, it's to do with how the money comes in and media write and things like that. We can't expect same sort of split currently. But our conditions should be equal. With time the pay difference will be reduced.