India began their T20 World Cup campaign on a good note, defeating the West Indies by 20 runs in a practice game played at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. There were enough positives to take from the game for India. Alongside those bright spots, there were a few talking points, which gave indicators of who could bat at the crucial No. 3 position in their group fixtures in the World Cup.
One of those clues was India’s batting order against the West Indies – Harmanpreet Kaur took the No. 3 slot, while Jemimah Rodrigues and Yastika Bhatia were positioned at 4 and 5. The expected lineup was probably Bhatia, returning from an injury, to take the No.3 position, with Kaur finding herself at No. 4 and Rodrigues placed at No. 5. The Indian think-tank’s move didn’t exactly work for Harmanpreet as she was dismissed for a single run. Rodrigues (52 runs) and Bhatia (24 runs), however, stitched a vital stand of 50. On second thoughts, perhaps India were just experimenting with the No. 3 position in a practice match.
This is what Amol Mazumdar, the India coach, had said in the pre-departure press conference held in Mumbai. “Of course, we have identified but we will reveal it just before the 11 is announced. I know for a fact that the No. 3 position sets up the game in any form of the game.”
Rodrigues’s fifty was the cornerstone of the Indian innings. Here is a player who seems to be adept at playing different positions in the middle order. She averages a touch over 30 at No. 3 and an impressive 46.5 at the No. 5 position, although she has played only 14 T20Is at that slot.
The essence of any Rodrigues innings are the different gears she employs according to the situation of the game and conditions. Even in the practice game, Rordigues showcased her batting smarts. She came out to bat with India in a spot of bother at 21 for 2. Soon, Smriti Mandhana was also dislodged as well.
Until the completion of the 16th over, Rodrigues was scoring at a strike-rate of around 100 before cracking three boundaries in a row off Aaliyah Alleyne, the medium pacer. Eventually, when the middle-order bat was dismissed, her strike-rate stood at an impressive 130.
Just to ram home the point further of how Rordrigues goes about constructing her innings, revisit the India-Pakistan encounter from the last year’s T20 World Cup. She came out to bat at a score of 38 for 1, as India looked to hunt down a target of 150. Initially, Rordigues dealt in a diet of singles and twos before crunching a slew of sweeps off Fatima Sana and Nida Dar. Her unbeaten 38-ball 53 was instrumental in helping India surpass the total.
Returning to the India-West Indies game, alongside Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar also found her groove, picking up three wickets with the ball. The pace-bowling all-rounder is an integral member of the side. Vastrakar is pretty good at bowling hard lengths and the occasional yorker. The pacer has also been bowling more often with the new ball since the 2023 World Cup.
“I kept my plans simple,” Vastrakar had said during the home series against South Africa this year. “Bowling hard lengths help me. As an opportunity and a responsibility, the team felt I should be given the new ball. I wanted to pick up early wickets and give the team a good start by conceding less [runs].”
Renuka Singh, renowned for picking up a scalp in the first over, and the reliable Deepti Sharma, also were among the wickets. In the final analysis, India would have been satisfied with their performance against the West Indies, with the positives outweighing a few minuses.