With less than 24 hours to board the flight to Australia, the Indian women's cricket team appeared upbeat about locking horns with the best in the ICC Women's World Cup. Skipper Jhulan Goswami was happy with the preparations and is keen to go the distance beginning their campaign on March 7 against Pakistan at Bradman Oval in Bowral .

Putting last year's 0-5 whipping at the hands of world champions Australia behind them, the captain wants to take one step at a time. "Overall we didn't play good cricket then but we have since worked hard on building the unit and hopefully we will do well this time," Goswami said on the eve of team's departure.

She was happy with the balance of the side and said that adapting to the conditions would be the first and foremost task. The team reaches Australia on Monday and would get to play practice games against South Africa and New Zealand.

"It would be nice to play these sides in practice games as hopefully we would meet them in the next stage of the tournament," the captain said. India are placed in group B along with Sri Lanka, England and Pakistan.

The team's fortune will depend a lot on how well Mithali Raj and Anjum Chopra perform. Raj has been India's most prolific scorer while Chopra would be playing in her fourth World Cup.

Vice-captain Amita Sharma and Rumeli Dhar are expected to shoulder the pace bowling burden with Goswami. If the skipper, the fastest woman bowler in the world, leads from the front, India's progress in the World Cup is assured.