When the Indian players and the team management went back to the dugout after losing the third Women’s T20I against Australia on Wednesday, they zeroed in on a couple of areas that cost the side the game.
As captain Harmanpreet Kaur pointed out, the team played “too many dot balls” - 56 to be specific. And adding to its woes, the middle-order fumbled under pressure and lost wickets in quick succession to surrender to the mighty Aussies, leading to the home team going down 1-2 in the five-match T20I series. Now, with the series on the line, India needs to fix the loose ends when it squares off against Australia in the fourth T20I at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.
This wicket at the iconic venue is not similar to the one at the DY Patil Stadium, which hosted the first couple of games. With bowlers enjoying good swing on this surface, things have been slightly difficult for the batters to get going, but a star-studded Indian batting line-up, comprising Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet, need to ensure that they are consistent in their starts. So far in the series, the opening pair of Shafali and Smriti haven’t been able to hold on to the starts and now with the series in a crucial juncture, it is important to ensure that they play calculatively, ensuring that there are not too many dot balls.
In the first three matches, Jemimah Rodrigues has struggled, adding pressure to the middle-order and ahead of what could be the series-deciding fixture, the team management needs to decide on whether they want to continue with Jemimah at No.3 or tweak their batting line-up to make sure that the pressure does not mount up towards the end.
In her interaction with the media after losing the third game, Harmanpreet had stressed on the need to finish off a game, and being the leader and the most experienced member of the side, she has to lead from the front and guide the team out of the woods in crunch games. In the last few games, Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh have played the roles of the finisher, but going forward, it is a must for the team to have a ‘Plan B’ in a bid to shrug off the over-reliance on Deepti and Richa at the fag end.
Just not batting, bowling has been an area of concern in the series as all three games have had scores above 170. In the first game, India failed to defend 172, while conceding 187 and 172 in the second and third outings respectively. Harmanpreet admitted that even though the team does not have a bowling coach, the players are taking charge. “I know we are missing a bowling coach but our bowlers are taking charge. They are participative in bowlers’ meetings. They have full responsibility and today [it was] all their plans and they were leading the way, I was just supporting them in the middle,” she said.
With the selectors looking beyond Shikha Pandey, Renuka Singh Thakur has been given the role of India’s pace spearhead, but she hasn’t been quite consistent so far in the tournament and going forward, the bowling unit needs to step up against the Alyssa Healy-led Aussies.
Aiming for another series victory against India, the visiting team will pin its hopes on Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry, while hoping for captain Healy to regain her rhythm.
Mooney and McGrath have accelerated the top-order, while once the seasoned Perry once again stamped her class with a 75 off 47 deliveries in the third game. She had to warm the bench for the entire leg of the Ashes in January this year. With the team opting for aggressive power-hitters, she was sidelined for the Commonwealth Games as well.
While those omissions led to questions over her future, the sudden retirement of Rachael Haynes seems to have opened new doors for Perry, and the Australian team management will be hoping for her to keep the momentum going in the remainder of the series.
With plenty at stake, both the teams have lots to play for.
Match starts at 7pm
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