India vs England: Mithali Raj and Co's cautious batting proves expensive, calls for fresh approach

Mithali Raj, completing her 22 years in international cricket, made a hard-fought 72 off 108 deliveries but it all went in vain as England cantered to a  eight-wicket win in the first ODI of the three-match series at County Ground in Bristol, on Sunday. India are a team that generally prefers to chase, but toss is not something you can control in cricket, and more often than not whenever Raj and Co are asked to set a target they keep coming short. It was no different in Taunton. Having asked to bat first, India could only manage 201/8 from the 50 overs. In reply, England chased down the target inside 35 overs, with 91 balls to spare. England, albeit with the benefit of chasing, scored at a rate of 5.86 runs per over, and at that rate, could have got around 293 had they batted full quota. India scored at a rate of 4.02 runs per pver. [caption id=“attachment_9758441” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  The lack of intent from the Indian batters proved to be the deciding factor in the first ODI against England. Image: Twitter/@BCCIWomen[/caption] The visitors accounted for 181 dot balls during their innings. Their inability to rotate strike once again proved costly. This is one area where they need to improve drastically, and in quick time, to have any real shot at the ODI World Cup title which begins on 4 March next year in New Zealand. According to the numbers presented by ESPNcricinfo, India’s average first-innings total setting a target in ODIs has been 213 since the 2017 World Cup, which is a long way off the benchmark. Australia, on an average, score 289 batting first. England (259), South Africa (227) and New Zealand (221) are all ahead of India in that list. Most of the leading teams for sure have some very good batters and immense depth in their squad. With the likes of Raj, Harmanpreeet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, and now with the addition of the flamboyant Sahafali Verma, India also have the resources to constantly get past the 250-run mark. The issue, however, lies in their outdated approach and lack of intent. India made a brisk start with Shafali being the aggressor, but they simply put brakes on scoring once the 17-year-old got out in the fifth over. From being 23/1 in 4.5 overs at the time of dismissal, they only managed to get to 27/2 at the 10 overs mark; an addition of four runs in 5.1 overs. The first 10 overs were littered with 46 dot balls. The trend continued through the innings and while they picked up some pace towards the end, it was never going to be enough. In contrast, England also had a similar start with opener Lauren Winfield Hill getting out early with the score being 24/1 in 4.4 overs. They decided against dropping the anchor despite having more than enough time on hand to chase the paltry target and their score at the end of 10 overs read 61/1. England never dropped the tempo and kept punishing the bad balls, not allowing the bowlers to settle down, and eventually securing a comfortable victory. The 10-over mark is especially important because batting powerplay has now been removed from women’s ODIs. Only the first 10 overs have two fielders outside the fielding restriction area, while the remaining 40 overs have four fielders. After failing to capitalise in the first 10 overs, Indian batters struggled to rotate the strike in middle overs. The 56-run partnership between Raj and Raut for the third wicket came in 94 deliveries. The fifth-wicket 65-run partnership between Raj and Deepti Sharma came in 85 deliveries. “Yes, we need to look into that aspect and keep on rotating strike,” Raj said about the huge number of dot balls during the post-match press conference. “We need our top five batters to get runs. We also need to understand that England seamers are very experienced. They know how to bowl in their conditions.” The last 10 overs fetched 67 runs with Raj finally accelerating and Pooja Vastrakar scoring a handy 15 off 17 as India reached a somewhat respectful 201/8. England bowlers were no doubt very good in their home conditions. Katherine Brunt and Natalie Sciver used the short ball effectively. Anya Shrubsole and Kate Cross were disciplined while Sophie Ecclestone picked up three wickets. Yet, India could have done a lot to break the rhythm of the English bowlers. Instead, they opted to play for survival and allowed the opposition to dictate terms. The high percentage of dot balls batted India out of the match. Raj, Raut, and Sharma who occupied the crease for the most part of the innings struggled to take singles, let alone scoring boundaries. It took 95 deliveries for Mithali to reach her fifty. Raut batted at a strike rate of 52.46 while Sharma got her runs at 65.22. In the end, the intention of the batters, or the lack of it, was the deciding factor. Going forward, India must quickly look to address the issues as the scoring rate in women’s cricket, fueled by better pitches, outfields, and improving fitness levels, has risen sharply. They must take a cue from England opener Tammy Beaumont who scored an unbeaten 87 off 87. She batted outside the crease to negate the swing from Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey and batted positively, capitalising on loose deliveries. Against spinners, she expertly used the feet to get to the pitch of the ball and whenever the line was dragged down the leg, she brought out the sweep shot. The sweep shot was completely missing in the Indian innings. When bowlers got on the top, Indian batters did little to find the gaps and play with the fielding setup. One factor behind India curbing their scoring instincts could be the lack of batting depth. And this could see India calling up spin all-rounder Sneh Rana in place of Ekta Bisht to lengthen the batting. To counter the lack of finishers, coach Romesh Powar and captain Raj should also look at promoting Vastrakar in the batting line-up. Raj rued the fact that seamers were unable to get early wickets and that could see the management recalling pacer Arundhati Reddy. “We will definitely look into the composition, a little bit shuffle in the batting order to get over the line,” she said. The captain, however, did not entertain the idea of her batting in her favourite position in the No 3 slot. That means we could see someone new take the slot other than Raut, maybe opener Jemimah Rodrigues, because India cannot afford to have two anchors batting back-to-back. India will take the field on 30 June for the second ODI with a new combination and few new players, and hopefully with a fresh approach to batting.