Harmanpreet continuing to sidestep responsibility for India's disappointing results does her no favour

The year 2024 has been far from ideal for the India women’s cricket team. The Women in Blue lost to Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup , a tournament they have thoroughly dominated since its inception two decades ago, in July. Three months later, they also failed to progress to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in the UAE after getting outplayed in their opening game against New Zealand and later losing a close game against Australia .

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur found herself under the pump after a string of disappointing results, with her predecessor Mithali Raj slamming her captaincy and calling for a change in leadership after the Indian team’s inability to advance beyond the group stage of the World Cup. “I feel that in the last two-three years, I’ve not really seen any growth in this team,” Raj had said in October, while backing batter Jemimah Rodrigues to take over the role.

More from First Cricket News

India vs Pakistan Asia Cup Match LIVE Updates: Amid boycott call, Men In Blue get ready to face arch-rivals in Dubai BCCI defends decision to play vs Pakistan in Asia Cup months after Pahalgam attack: 'If we boycott...'

The BCCI eventually decided against removing her from the role and trusted the Mumbai Indians captain to continue leading the side across formats – something she had been doing since Raj retired from all forms of the game in the summer of 2022. The three-match ODI series in Australia was the perfect opportunity for Kaur to highlight the fact that she still had the ability to deliver results, and was still the same leader that had led India to the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia and delivered thumping wins in back-to-back Tests against England and Australia at home.

Unfortunately, the 0-3 scoreline did the 35-year-old no favour. While beating the world’s best team in their own backyard is easier said than done, it was the manner in which India were outplayed in each game – getting bundled out for 100 in the opening game and falling well short of the target in the next two – that remains a concern for now.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

'Won't require surgery...': Real reason behind Jasprit Bumrah's absence from 5th Test revealed in new report

PCB bans players from WCL over India-Pakistan match controversy

Kaur remains defensive despite string of defeats

In the press conference ahead of the limited-overs series against West Indies at home, Kaur remained defensive when speaking to reporters, and continued to sidestep ownership for India’s string of disappointing results this year.

“After the World Cup, we played against New Zealand, we did really well in the home conditions and Australia tour result was not something which we were expecting but lot of learnings for us,” Kaur said on the sidelines of India’s training session in Navi Mumbai.

“In India, whenever we (have) played, we (have) played good cricket, the only (disappointing) thing was (the) World Cup and then the Australia tour which didn’t go according to our plans but apart from that, if I see in this year, we played really good cricket, we won lot of matches in home conditions.”

“These things happen and as a team, it’s very important for us to stay together and think about all the positives we have done in the past,” she added.

Sure India did have a good run at home, even though the year began with a 2-1 series defeat against the Aussies. India did thrash South Africa in a one-off Test in Chennai with Shafali Verma slamming a whirlwind double-century and Sneh Rana collecting an eight-for. Smriti Mandhana, who had scored a ton in that game, was on fire in the subsequent ODI series against the Proteas, which the hosts ended up sweeping 3-0.

India would then complete a 5-0 sweep of Bangladesh in their own backyard. And after the disappointing T20 World Cup campaign, India did defeat New Zealand 2-1 in an ODI series before flying out to their Trans-Tasman neighbours Australia.

While there’s nothing wrong in focusing on the positives, it is the hallmark of a good leader to also accept responsibility for shortcomings, especially when it comes to marquee continental and global competitions or in an important tour such as Australia.

The 35-year-old has had moments of criticising her teammates when discussing India’s defeats in recent games, even when her own form with the bat has been something of a worry. And her latest comments ahead of the West Indies assignment does her no favour, especially when her captaincy is on the line.