Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur emerges as answer to India’s No. 3 conundrum

Batting at No. 3, Harmanpreet managed a 11-ball 10 against the Proteas and a solitary run off three balls against the Windies in the warm-up games.

FILE PHOTO: India’s Harmanpreet Kaur in action. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU

It wasn’t too long ago when the No. 3 position in the batting order gave the Indian think tank nightmares.

There was a time when Mithali Raj, in the twilight of her career, copped criticism for her strike rate in that position (across the two white-ball formats).

After her era ended, the dilemma became about finding a worthy successor, a figure of solidity who can be the fulcrum of a complete batting effort.

Jemimah Rodrigues got a go in that position before moving further down to capitalise on her comfort against spin. In recent months, two names – Yastika Bhatia and Dayalan Hemalatha – seemed to be the prime candidates for the spot. Even Sajana Sajeevan, who fancies herself as a late hitter, and keeper-batter Uma Chetry were sent at one-drop from time to time.

“I know for a fact that in T20, the No. 3 sets the game up. We have identified (our No. 3) but we will reveal that only closer to our opening game,” India head coach Amol Muzumdar had declared before India flew to Dubai.

Trial and error

All eyes were on a potential toss-up between Yastika – who spent months recovering at the National Cricket Academy – and Hemalatha, but when the curtains parted and the spotlight shone on the stage, in walked Harmanpreet Kaur.

In the practice fixtures India played against West Indies and South Africa, seeing the Indian captain coming in at three, when there were multiple contenders for that spot, evoked mixed conversations. Batting at No. 3, she managed a 11-ball 10 against the Proteas and a solitary run off three balls against the Windies.

It didn’t matter. The leadership core had made up its mind and pinned the No. 3 bib on the India captain. This was no random experiment or stop-gap fix, as Muzumdar revealed. The foundations for this move were laid during India’s practice camps but got a seal of approval during India’s weeklong training stint ahead of the World Cup.

In the 173 T20Is she has featured in, Harmanpreet has come in at No. 3 in just 18 games, scoring 298 runs in total at an average of 21.28.

“We had already decided during the camps back in India. We had a lovely one in Bengaluru. The pre-World Cup matches here absolutely stamped that for us,” Muzumdar said ahead of India’s campaign opener against New Zealand on Thursday.

This decision involves plucking Harmanpreet out of her comfort bubble and it is still unclear what set this wheel in motion. In T20Is, no one has curled up in that number 4 slot as well and as successfully as Harmanpreet.

As many as 116 matches in her career involved her batting in that slot, with 2,474 of her career-haul of 3,426 runs being amassed there.

She has the most runs in the women’s game in this position, with the second-best being England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt, who is quite a distance away, with 1,498 runs from 66 games.

So what necessitated her going up the order?

From 2020 to 2024, India’s tendency to lose an opener early in the PowerPlay has often been its undoing. Over the past four years, an opener has fallen 15 times in just the second over alone.

The player coming at one-drop not only needs to arrest the nerves of the partner at the other end, but also tries to find the gaps and keep the scorecard ticking.

While it’s safe to assume that Muzumdar was not happy with what he was seeing from the player-rotation for this slot, Harmanpreet seems to be the safe, experienced choice and the option has a benefit for her.

The conditions in Dubai are expected to be slow, with low bounce, much like what was on display on the opening day in Sharjah. Slotting Harmanpreet higher up the order could give her more time to settle down and begin hitting once she has a lay of the land and the opponents.

While the gamble on the No. 3 slot looks like it could go either way, India’s biggest strengths are its openers – when they are in rhythm – and a potent lower middle-order pairing of Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma. The difference in styles – one leaning more towards stabilisation while the other keeps the strike rate high – has worked not just for India but also across various domestic competitions these two have shared a dressing room in. India’s late batting porousness needs the duo to come good.

While India’s batting garners all the eyeballs, its bowling arsenal too is itching to get a crack on a surface that richly rewards players with potent slower deliveries. Shreyanka Patil and Asha Sobhana in the spin department and Arundhati Reddy in the pace aisle have all been actively working on dropping pace in the air to deceive batters or elicit a false shot. Spin to win seems to be the UAE’s mantra and the Indian think tank seems fairly confident in the personnel at its disposal.

Harmanpreet slotting up at three allows leeway for an additional bowling option, another major advantage in a spin-friendly venue.

Even the captain, who used to bowl regularly in this format and who last rolled her arm in 2022 versus England, may need to step up. Muzumdar reiterated that the top six players were told emphatically that they have to be ready to contribute with the ball.

Two editions of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), Muzumdar said, has only added to the talent pool and cushioning India’s chances of fielding high-quality cricketers in waves.

“Some of the players that have come into the Indian squad here at the World Cup are the product of what the WPL is. Of course, not undermining the First-Class (domestic) cricketers back home. But WPL has given us a strong base to find players,” he explained.

Sajana, Sobhana and Shreyanka had their national careers fast-tracked due to the visible success they enjoyed in the WPL.

When Muzumdar took over as India head coach last October, the two areas of urgent priority he underlined were fielding and fitness. The latest camp held in Bengaluru focussed on the very same.

“The effort has been there. I think you’ll definitely see the results.”