ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020: Well-rounded bowling attack, middle-order woes and other takeaways from India’s group stage campaign

India announced themselves as a force to be reckoned with after a 17-run victory over defending champions and favourites Australia in the lung opener. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led unit then posted a comfortable win over Bangladesh (by 18 runs), before eking out a thrilling four-run win against New Zealand. Three wins on the trot saw them become the first team in the tournament to seal a semi-final berth. Even though their next clash against Sri Lanka was inconsequential, the Women in Blue refused to take the foot off the gas and thumped the Islanders by seven wickets, thereby finishing on top of the Group A standings. As India gear up to take on England in the semi-finals, here are the key takeaways from their group stage campaign in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: Sixteen-year-old Shafali Verma leads batting charge The latest sensation in Indian women’s cricket, Shafali Verma has tormented the opposition attacks in the mega tournament. Mind you, this is the same girl who (at 15) became the youngest Indian to score a half-century, a record previously held by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Playing her first T20 World Cup, the 16-year-old is already the third-highest run-getter in the mega event with 161 runs from four outings. The striking feature, however, has been the manner in which she has scored these runs – maintaining an astounding strike rate of 161 and hammering nine sixes (most by any player so far). [caption id=“attachment_8114441” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Shafali Verma has set alight the T20 World Cup with her fearless brand of batting. AP[/caption] Shafali, it seems, has taken a leaf out of Virender Sehwag’s playbook and made the cricketing world — including the likes of Tendulkar (her idol), Sehwag, Nasser Hussain and Ian Bishop – sit up and take notice. The teenage sensation has consistently got India off to flying starts and will continue to be the key to India’s successful campaign. Middle-order woes India have been in a spot of bother as far as their middle-order is concerned. They have repeatedly squandered good starts to eventually settle for below-par totals. Keeping aside the game against Sri Lanka, who were already out of the semi-final race, India managed just 132 against Australia, 142 against Bangladesh and 133 against New Zealand. Consider these collapses: Against New Zealand, they went from being 80/3 in 11.1 overs to 111/7 in 17.1 overs. Facing Bangladesh, they were 78/3 in 10 overs and found themselves at 113/6 in 16.5 overs. Against Australia, Deepti Sharma (49 of 46 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 33 balls) played patient knocks after Shafali’s quick-fire 29, but the two couldn’t up the ante as India finished with 132/4. Barring Jemimah, Deepti and Veda Krishnamurthy, who have chipped in on odd occasions, the remaining batting line-up has struggled to make any sort of impact. “We made the same mistakes after a good first 10 overs, we got a good start but couldn’t carry the momentum,” skipper Harmanpreet Kaur admitted ahead of the final group stage clash against Sri Lanka clash. With India’s four-game winning streak, their unpredictable middle order has been swept under the carpet. As we head into the business end of the tournament, India would need to deliver as a cohesive unit rather than dishing out bits and pieces performances. Senior pros Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur need to step up Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana, who both did well in the tri-series before this World Cup, haven’t made any noteworthy contributions so far. Harmanpreet, known for being a power hitter, failed to reach the double-digit mark in the first three games. In the inconsequential match against Sri Lanka, she promoted herself to No 3 but yet again squandered a good start, departing for 15. Although she connected with a few blows that will help her regain some confidence going into the knockouts. Mandhana too has failed to join the party. Scores of 10, 11 and 17 in the tournament don’t do justice to the talent that she possesses. Much like her skipper, against Sri Lanka, the left-hander looked good for three boundaries but failed to capitalise. The stakes are high and more than ever before, India would need their experienced campaigners to lead by example. Poonam Yadav leads well-rounded bowling attack Unlike India’s batting, which has heavily relied on the brilliance of Shafali, their bowling attack has all bases covered at the moment. More often than not, it is the bowlers who have held their nerve in crunch situations to take the side home. Leading the tournament’s bowling charts with 9 wickets, Poonam Yadav has bamboozled the batters with her leg-spin. She has been spot on with her wrong un’s, hasn’t given the batters any pace to work with and thus boasts of an economy rate of 5.56. [caption id=“attachment_8114451” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Leading the tournament’s bowling charts with 9 wickets, Poonam Yadav (left) has bamboozled the batswomen with her leg-spin. Twitter/ @T20 World Cup[/caption] So far, only New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr has successfully decoded the leggie. With little pace on offer, Kerr either waited deep in the crease or stepped out to meet Poonam deliveries on the full, clubbing four fours in her penultimate over. Other teams are likely to follow suit when taking on Poonam in the semis. Thankfully, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma and Arundathi Reddy — all the possible options in India’s bowling armoury have struck at regular intervals. This has, in turn, taken the load off Poonam’s shoulders. In the game against New Zealand, India dropped their second seamer Arundathi Reddy to bring in spinner Radha Yadav. Radha became the fourth spinner in a side that already boasted of Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad. So, India chose to proceed with just one seamer, the experienced Shikha Pandey. Since then, a spin dominated attack, which was quite a gamble on Australian pitches that have more on offer for the seamers, hasn’t disappointed. Shikha, the lone seamer, is only second to Poonam in terms of having taken the most wickets for India and has played her part to perfection, both with the new ball and at the death. Given how things have unfolded, India will most likely stick to the same bowling combination in the semi-finals.