Women's T20 tri-series 2020: With World Cup looming, time running out for India to rethink strategy after loss to Australia

Smriti Mandhana was in full flow. She had started with a four and a six in the first over and had marched on from there, unperturbed by two wickets falling at the other end. Then, in the tenth over, she lofted Jess Jonassen for six over mid-wicket. Jonassen changed the trajectory of the next ball; a flick got Mandhana two runs. Now Jonassen tossed the next ball up, this time slightly more towards leg-stump than the first ball of the over; and Mandhana was out caught towards square leg. India were 56/3 at this stage, off 9.3 overs, a shade under a run a ball. Not the ideal launching pad, but most sides would have reached 130, or even 140, from there. India were reduced to 82/8 in another 5.1 overs against the guile of Ellyse Perry (who took three wickets in an over) and the hostile pace generated by Tayla Vlaeminck, effectively conceding the match. They eventually got to 103/9. [caption id=“attachment_7628331” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana. Image: Twitter @ICC[/caption] To be fair, they fought gamely on the field, even after Arundhati Reddy injured her hand after attempting a difficult catch off her own bowling and left the field. Australia were made to work for their runs: they won by four wickets, but barring Perry and Ashleigh Gardner none of their batters reached double figures. It was not an easy win for Australia despite the low target. But Reddy’s blow posed a second problem for India. They had arrived with three seamers, and Reddy was replacement for Pooja Vastrakar, who had injured herself in the first match. In other words, Shikha Pandey is now the only fit seamer in the Indian camp. Additionally, Poonam Yadav, arguably India’s finest spinner across formats, is also injured (though she may return for the second leg of the tournament), while Richa Ghosh has picked up an injury as well. The three Indian spinners – Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad – once again rose to the challenge, bowling beautifully in Poonam’s absence to combine for figures of 12-0-59-4, but the batters had left them a total too low to defend. Not for the first time did the fall of the third wicket spell doomsday for India Women. Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Harmanpreet Kaur have often got India off to excellent starts; and despite being in her early days, Shafali Verma seems to have eased into her role of the no-holds-barred hitter in the Powerplay overs. But that has been about it, as we have discussed before in these pages. While there is little doubt over Veda Krishnamurthy’s ability to force the pace, she has failed more often than succeeded in that role. Her 57 not out at Providence in November, only the second fifty of her career, came three years after her first; and her average stands at 18.61. However, the problems will not be addressed even if India decide to persist with Krishnamurthy, for India do not have batters down the order either. Despite her ability to deliver under pressure, Deepti Sharma has never fitted into the role of a power hitter down the order; Taniya Bhatia, India’s preferred wicketkeeper, averages in single digits and strikes at under a run a ball in this format; and Vastrakar has injured herself. This is how India’s current batters have performed since 2018 against all oppositions and the Big Three – Australia, England, and New Zealand. Harleen Deol and Priya Punia’s performances are best ignored due to small sample sizes.

Unfortunately, India’s back-up batters – Deol and Punia (not in the squad) – are also top-order batters. So, given the selections, it indeed seems that India’s go-to middle-order batter is Ghosh, an uncapped teenager. While there is little doubt regarding Ghosh’s talent, it may be too much to expect of her, especially against the top- and second-ranked sides in the world.The gap between the top three and the rest is evident. While Krishnamurthy has got the runs, she has really faltered against the Big Three. Verma is definitely on the rise, but barring that, there has been little to talk about. With only one fit seamer (Mansi Joshi is the expected replacement if one of Reddy and Vastrakar does not recover) and a middle order that has been struggling for two years, time is running out for India. The T20 World Cup is three weeks away.