Women’s World Cup 2025: ‘India can’t take South Africa lightly, spinners better be on target,’ says Anjum Chopra

Can the Indian women’s cricket team win the ongoing ICC Women’s ODI World Cup? Well, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that this is probably the best chance they have had, so far. The Indian women’s ODI team is ranked third in the ICC rankings, behind only Australia and England and the fans now expect them to win every time they step onto the field, regardless of what the previous result might have been. Couple that with the fact that they are playing in home (and Sri Lankan) conditions, Team India has to be counted amongst the potential contenders.

After their opening clash against Sri Lanka and a high-octane match vs Pakistan, the next two outings will see Harmanpreet Kaur’s girls take on South Africa, who are ranked fifth in the ICC Women’s ODI Team rankings and then the team which has won more ODI World Cup titles in the women’s game than all the other teams combined – seven-time champions Australia. Needless to say, these two games will test the Indian team’s mettle.

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In an exclusive interview, former India captain Anjum Chopra, who played 2 Tests, 127 ODIs and 18 T20Is for India, looks ahead to these two crucial round-robin matches, the Aussie players Team India should be most wary of, what the barometer for true growth of the women’s game in India is and more.

This is part two of an exclusive interview with Anjum Chopra. Click here to read the first part.

India’s next match is against South Africa in Vishakhapatnam. In the context of a World Cup in Indian and Sri Lankan conditions, how big a threat would you say the South Africans would be for this particular Indian team? The South African squad has as many as five spin bowling options….

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Anjum Chopra: For me, the competition will be between the two batting sides. South Africa have a good batting line-up, which is more explosive than their bowling line-up. But, at the same time they also have very good bowling options. They are not reliant on (just) two or three bowlers. They will, in all probability, play with one left-armer, who is an all-rounder in Chloe Tryon (right-arm bat and slow left-arm orthodox bowler). They will play with one leg-spinner in Sune Luus, who is also an all-rounder (right-hand bat and right-arm off-break and leg-break) and they will play a genuine left-arm spinner, (Nonkululeko) Mlaba. Their spin department will take care of itself. But because they will (also) most likely have someone like a Nadine de Klerk, who is a seam bowling option and a middle order batter, they will have Marizanne Kapp, who is an all-rounder (right-hand bat and right-arm medium bowler). They might also play Annerie Dercksen, who is a fast bowler (right-hand bat and right-arm medium bowler) and a good batter, someone who recently scored a century as well (maiden ODI century – 104 vs Sri Lanka Women in May).

Also Read | India women unbeaten, but not unstoppable yet: Why the Women’s World Cup 2025 campaign still feels one spark short

So, they (South Africa) have very good bowling options in their line-up. Apart from a few players like the wicket-keeper (in all probability Sinalo Jafta), the captain, Laura Wolvaardt (opening batter) and Tazmin Brits (opening batter), everyone else in that line-up can bowl. That gives them almost 7-8 bowling options. Whether they are all world-class or not – there is a question mark on that, but they do have options. This group (the South African cricketers) have been playing cricket together for a while now and most of them know the Indian conditions. They were here last year (India women played 3ODIs, one Test and 3 T20Is vs SA women in June-July 2024), plus they play in the WPL. They also pack a punch in their batting. So, South Africa is not a team India would want to take lightly, anyway. Our (India’s) spinners are good, but if we are going in with only three spinners, they better be on target.

Since we are talking about spin - we have been discussing for a long time about how the Indian men’s team has struggled against spin and how the country that once produced the best players of spin bowling now struggles against quality spin. As someone who keeps a close watch on the women’s game in the country as well, would you say the current bunch of Indian women cricketers are not very proficient when it comes to playing spin, but that that is something that can be fixed?

Anjum Chopra: From what I see and understand, the present generation of women cricketers is trying to become power-hitters. They are learning to play the aggressive game, which is possibly a nice way to learn to counter pace or spin. If you are asking them to smell the leather and defend the ball in front of their faces and not have the ball go towards silly mid-off or mid-on, that might be a challenge. But not too many of them are put in a position like that, also, for them to pass that litmus test. I do feel that the (current Indian) players are not the best players of spin bowling, but to be fair, the spin bowling (these days) is also not that great. Again, that too comes with an exception. If I have to talk about one spinner who is world-class, it would have to be Charlie Dean of England (24-year-old bowling allrounder). She is that one bowler who can really test your skills – whether in a Test match or an ODI or even a T20I. With the loop she gets and the turn and the control that she has – she is one of the best off-spin bowlers of recent times. She can really test you and that is why she has had such success against India, because Indian players don’t have enough answers against her.

So, it again boils down to the skill level of the batter. Either you hit your way out of a situation or you grind your way out of it. It’s a very individual thing. But to get the players to correct their techniques to suit what they are doing, what the players are learning these days is to become more proficient in hitting the ball out of the park and having (overall) a more powerful game, rather than a skillful game.

So, the same thing that is happening in the men’s game – the T20 impact, as it were….

Anjum Chopra: Yes, but at least in the men’s game, there is Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy, where they are tested more often (against quality spin).

Now, the team to beat once again is, of course, Australia. In their opening match, which was against their Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand, they pulled off a huge 89-run win, once again scoring above 300. The India vs Australia match is on the 12th of October at Visakhapatnam – the same venue as the South Africa match. What would your advice be for the girls for this crucial clash? What are the few key things that Team India just have to get right?

Anjum Chopra: They (the Indian team) have to get their combinations right and come out with the kind of mindset that they have been trying to have while preparing against Australia, over the past few years. Yes, they were visibly unhappy after losing the third game of the series (three-match ODI series in India, which Australia women won 2-1). That’s exactly the kind of mindset, in terms of preparation, that you want your team to have. If I sense it right, they obviously want to get the better of Australia this time in the World Cup – not just in their league match, but also if they face Australia again later in the tournament. That is the kind of preparation, individually and collectively, that the team has had, which is very good to see. But being competitive and crossing the line are two different things.

So, the Indian team has to first make sure that they are competitive, then look at closing out the game and winning those small moments to get the result in their favour. These are all steps on a ladder and step two cannot come before step one. Just be aware of what is happening and then proceed in the contest, because Australia is not going to make things easy for India

Who would you say, if I could use a clichéd term, are the main ‘danger players’ that Team India should look to target in their clash against Australia?

Anjum Chopra: I think Beth Mooney (wicket-keeper batter) has always done well against India. I think Phoebe Litchfield (opening batter) is a player to watch out for. For me, she is (in fact) the player to watch out for in this World Cup. She might not end up contributing in every game, but in my view, the kind of impact she can have in the World Cup will be huge. Again, for the Aussies, that might be something that is expected from an opener, but the kind of impact in world cricket that Phoebe Litchfield can make makes her, for me, definitely one of the players to watch out for in this current generation looking to the future.

If Australia play the regular bowlers they usually play, then Ashleigh Gardner started off well and you don’t want to take that lightly. Apart from that, Sophie Molineux (took 3/25 vs NZ in Australia’s opening match of the ongoing World Cup) – because she is also an experienced campaigner, even though she is playing her 50-over World Cup, because she missed the last edition with an injury. So, watch out for her as well.

We are all of course hoping that this is a World Cup that Team India wins, but whenever that first World Cup title win eventually happens, whether it’s in the ODI or the T20 format - for the Indian women’s team to win a World Cup - how will that change women’s cricket in India, for the better, you think? We all know about how the 1983 World Cup win changed men’s cricket in India forever and then the 2007 T20 World Cup win also had a huge impact. How would a women’s World Cup title win change the women’s game in the country?

Anjum Chopra: As far as growth of the women’s game in the country is concerned, I think the game turned over a new leaf since 2017, when India lost the final (of the 50-over World Cup against England at Lord’s by 9 runs) and came back home and we saw the rewards and awards and the felicitations, which will of course also happen if India go on to win a World Cup. There will be no dearth of fame and money, that’s for sure. It’s not that the sport (women’s cricket in India) has not been taking off. Over the years, men’s cricket has seen constant growth. The number of people playing the men’s game have seen a constant – before and after 1983. As far as the women’s game is concerned, overnight, girls might not start playing cricket (if the Indian women’s team wins a World Cup). That is actually something that I would like to sit back and monitor – whether the Indian team does or doesn’t win the World Cup – how many people want to make it a career option. Here, the biggest thing for me is gender. It’s not that if the team wins a World Cup, suddenly there is a huge influx of people joining academies.

The biggest thing is countering the challenges of gender, countering the physical demands of playing the sport. The biggest growth that I am waiting for is to see people coming to the stadiums to watch a women’s cricket match. That will be the biggest measure of how much the sport has changed or improved over the years. It’s not about paying Rs 100 or Rs 50 for a ticket; it’s the intent with which people come out to watch a women’s cricket match in the stadiums. That will be the biggest barometer to measure the growth of the game, for me. Whether you are playing in Bengaluru, Delhi or Mumbai or Cuttack. If people are coming to the stadiums to watch an Indian women’s team play, that is the biggest growth for me.