India Women may have beaten Pakistan, and done so comfortably in the end, but the truth is that the game has raised many more questions than answers. India were poor. With the bat and on the field, the effort was below par. The top order isn’t firing, and at times the strike-rate or the lack of intent is alarming. Against big teams – Australia, England, South Africa and the like – India will get caught out with an effort like this.
Neither Smriti Mandhana nor Harmanpreet Kaur have fired yet, and unless they do so, the acceleration just doesn’t happen. Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol are very similar batters, and strike-rate is an issue with both. I was baffled to see Sneh Rana come ahead of Richa Ghosh, and couldn’t understand the logic of holding her back for the last five overs of the innings. Eventually, it was Richa who managed to give the innings some momentum.
Coming to the fielding, it is a mystery why we can’t get better. Fielding isn’t any kind of rocket science, and with practice, things are bound to get better. With India, however, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Catches are dropped in almost every game, and misfields are routine. It is as if we have come to accept these things as par. Take the case of Richa as wicket-keeper. It is sad to see no improvement over the years. She drops catches in almost every game and, as a keeper, she is below par. Her batting brilliance at times gets overshadowed by her poor keeping, and against teams like Australia, it could cost India the game.
The performance of India’s spinners was the most alarming. In all honesty, Pakistan’s spinners out-bowled India’s. Had Pakistan not been so poor with the bat, India would have struggled. On a slow deck where there was assistance, none of the spinners had an impact.
In sum, India have been well below where they need to be in the tournament so far. Against Sri Lanka in the opening game, the top and middle order failed, while against Pakistan, the errors were too glaring to overlook. Amol Muzumdar and Harmanpreet urgently need a course correction. They need to sit the girls down and have a quiet word. India are a much better team and it is time we see the effort on the pitch.
Time and again, I have said that the World Cup could be the 1983 moment for the women’s game, and for that to happen, the team need to raise the bar by quite a few notches. Pakistan are one of the worst teams in world cricket, and to beat them isn’t really an achievement. That India couldn’t improve their NRR is a discredit.
Can India do it on October 9 in Vizag against South Africa? Can they change things around and get into the tournament? Can Smriti step up and take control, and will Harman lead from the front with the bat?
You are a top player only if you deliver on the big stage. Sachin Tendulkar always batted at his best in World Cups – 1996, 2003 and 2011 stand testimony to that. Smriti will know this is her moment of reckoning. If she is indeed the best, she needs to prove it. And now.
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