In sport, the hardest thing is to be harsh on yourself. Take a strong call, and make yourself accountable. Take ownership and step up. Be the leader on and off the field. That’s what India now wants to see from Harmanpreet Kaur, skipper of the women’s cricket team. To say India played well in the red-ball game and it is only the white-ball games that were lost doesn’t really work. India played a one-off red-ball Test against Australia. And six white-ball matches, of which five were lost. How does that work for a team that aspires to be the best in the world?
For Harmanpreet, her average in the last 15 matches she has played across formats is a meagre 15. And she hardly bowls anymore. With such a record, how does she justify her place in the side? Should Smriti Mandhana not be given the leadership role and Harmanpreet asked to take a break and come back refreshed? Should she not follow in the footsteps of Virat Kohli and take some time off? India needs Harmanpreet the batter in the World Cup, and with not much time left, calls need to be made with some urgency.
Frankly, it was extremely painful to see Harmanpreet get out the way she did. I had tweeted just a minute or so earlier saying India needed a big knock from the skipper. With Smriti back in the hut, Harman needed to be out there for the team. And that’s when it happened. A huge gap between bat and pad, an inside edge that shattered her stumps and the match beginning to slip away from India. A very good start was yet again wasted and 147 was never going to be enough against a strong Australian batting line-up. Yes, it was baffling to see Deepti Sharma sent out to bat ahead of Pooja Vastrakar or Amanjot Kaur, but the key moment in the game was when the skipper got out. A Harmanpreet 50 could have taken India to 165 and that might have been a score the bowlers could defend.
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Compare the Indian and Australian captains last night, and the difference is evident. Alyssa Healy had learnt from the first game and got Ash Gardner against Smriti in the third over of the game itself. Yes, she went for some runs, but make no mistake, it was a smart move. She was able to prize out Jemimah Rodrigues with a short ball, and thereafter it was all Australia on the field. And when it was her turn to bat, she was fearless. That’s where she managed to outdo Harmanpreet. Harmanpreet was timid and feared failure. Healy did not. The Indian captain was not ready to experiment and decided not to send in Pooja ahead of Deepti. It was the same old template that hasn’t worked.
INDW vs AUSW | 3rd T20I: Live Post Match Discussion https://t.co/MqfjuULhwY
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 9, 2024
Deepti the batter isn’t the best option in the shortest format and yet India don’t seem to have learnt from past mistakes. Healy has, and that’s why she sent in Phoebe Litchfield ahead of Gardner with four overs to go. While the Australian captain seemed to be enjoying the challenge – she was smiling even when the umpires were reviewing Jemimah’s catch – Harmanpreet appeared tense and nervous right through.
I think it is time for some tough calls. Sadly for the sport in India, the team haven’t won anything of consequence in white-ball cricket for a long time. Losing a white-ball series to England and now two back-to-back series against Australia doesn’t really tell a good story. In fact, India were perhaps better against Australia in December 2022. It is evidence that there is very little to show in terms of progress in the last 13 months.
Finally, may I say that we not go back to the Asian Games gold and say it was historic? It can’t mask these failures, and the truth is India did not play a single quality side in Hangzhou. Indian women’s cricket, as I have argued in the past, needs its 1983 moment and time is fast running out for the captain. A good WPL for the Mumbai franchise can’t mask Harmanpreet’s lean run for India, and unless the selectors go to Smriti with immediate effect – with Jemimah as her likely deputy – the game could be trapped in a consistent downward slide in India.
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