Explained: India's decision to promote Harmanpreet Kaur to No.3 for T20 World Cup

If you are wondering who will be India’s No.3 batter at the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, the answer is Harmanpreet Kaur. The Indian captain has largely batted at No.4, 107 times out of her 153 innings, but coach Amol Muzumdar has declared that they want Harmanpreet to be India’s first-down batter in the T20 World Cup.

Muzumdar confirmed the development ahead of India’s opening match against New Zealand on Friday.

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“Absolutely. Not just the warm-up games, but we had already decided back in India, during the camps that happened before we set off for the World Cup,” Muzumdar was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “These pre-World Cup matches stamped that for us. If you go through the scorecards, it was already there.

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“Is it a surprise? No. If you can guess, you can go through the scorecards and you will find it.”

Why Harmanpreet at No.3?

Muzumdar’s rationale is that it will allow one of the team’s batters, Harmanpreet, to have enough time to get set in the middle before she starts playing the big shots.

“The reasoning is clear. We want to give her the best chance to get set and take full advantage of her power hitting,” Muzumdar said.

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Harmanpreet’s batting numbers at No.3: At this slot, the veteran batter has scored 298 in 18 innings at an average of 21.28. In her preferred No.4 slot, Harmanpreet has scored 2474 in 107 innings at an average of 29.10.

She also batted in the No.3 slot during the two warm-up matches, against West Indies and South Africa, and scored 11 runs across the two matches.

It has also been reported that she hit a fifty recently in an intra-squad game from the No.3 position.

However, seeing Harmanpreet’s numbers at the No.3 batting position in isolation will be the wrong way to judge India’s decision to promote her in the batting order. India have been forced to pick Harmanpreet because none of the batters have made the No.3 slot their own. In the current T20 World Cup cycle, India gave opportunities to five batters with only Jemimah Rodrigues and Dayalan Hemalatha getting an extended run but the returns were not enough to convince Muzumdar and the Indian team management.

India’s No.3 experiment since the 2023 T20 World Cup:

Jemimah has a better average at No.3 as compared to Harmanpreet but the former has been even more effective at the No.5 slot. Hence India have decided to keep Jemimah in the lower middle-order due to her ability to pick up runs quickly from the No.5 position, keep the scoreboard ticking, and help the lower-order batters navigate the challenges of finishing an innings.

Rodrigues’ numbers while batting at No. 3 vs No. 5 in T20s:

Muzumdar has also hinted that Harmanpreet who has not bowled recently could be seen rolling her arms in the World Cup.

“We have paid a lot of attention to the sixth bowling option. Also, for the fact that we’ve had multiple discussions within our top-six that at least 3 to 4 have to bowl. And if we can get those overs out of them then nothing like it. And all of them [India’s top-six] could bowl. So, it’s just a question of applying and just putting in those hard yards in the nets and converting that into a match performance. Yes, Harman hasn’t bowled much recently [besides] the second warm-up, but she’s experienced enough to bowl those overs [in a World Cup],” he said ahead of the World Cup.