India’s fortnight of basking in red ball glory was bookended by two crucial and thought-provoking white ball tournaments: the T20I series against Heather Knight’s England and the ODI series against Alyssa Healy’s Australia, which ended in losses.
These two results assume significance when one switches to the big picture, with two ICC tournaments coming up in 18 months, one in each format. However, that conversation took a back seat when India excelled emphatically in the longest format of the game, coming good with bat, ball, and on the field.
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It’s easy to see why the Indians like Tests. As Deepti Sharma put it during the one-off Test against England, “The format allows the player time to stage a comeback should they lose their way slightly.” The luxury of time is what India did not have in its 0-3 drubbing at the hands of Australia in the latter’s favourite format, the ODIs, with notes aplenty for the host nation as it works towards building a framework for the home One-Day World Cup.
Alyssa Healty’s tenure as full-time skipper of the Australian side saw the side overcome a Test loss to emphatically sweep the three-match ODI series. | Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini/The Hindu
Litmus test for debutants
India entered the ODI series with four uncapped players: Saika Ishaque, Titas Sadhu, Shreyanka Patil, and Mannat Kashyap, of whom three got their maiden ODI caps. Shreyanka’s impressive run in the England T20Is continued against the Aussies. In two ODIs, she claimed four wickets but stood out for her ability to improvise and control the line and length. Her 91-kmph yorker to dismiss Ashleigh Gardner was particularly satisfying to watch. Despite being in the opposite dugout, this would have made her Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate, Ellyse Perry, proud.
Saika and Mannat did not encounter such luck, with Saika conceding 48 runs in the six overs she got in the first game and Mannat conceding 30 runs in the three overs in the third ODI. Both bowlers were lacklustre on the field too. Against this background, one feels bad for the one uncapped player who missed out—Titas. The Under-19 World Cup winner has easily had the most facetime with bowling coach Troy Cooley and is often there in the Indian nets from start to finish. India’s policy to tilt its combination in favour of its spin arsenal might have cost (for now) a talented player an opportunity to prove her worth against the best side in the world.
Age-old fault lines
“We’ve not played to our highest potential, especially in the fielding department. It’s not up to the standard expected from the Indian women’s team. I can assure you that we will work on it and come back stronger.” This is what Jemimah Rodrigues had to say after the series defeat, which was sealed with a shocking 190-run mauling at the hands of the Aussies. Incidentally, head coach Amol Muzumdar, in one of his earliest interactions with the press, cited fitness and fielding as priorities with the women’s side. Add another ‘F’-form to the mix.
Shafali Verma was dropped for the last two ODIs for her subpar run in the top order. However, does this conversation accommodate the stutters of captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana as well? Throughout this ODI series, the burden of constructing an innings or saving the chase came down to the middle and lower middle order. Harmanpreet’s scores of 9, 5, and 3 add to a few years of inconsistency with the bat. Mandhana, too, has been unable to convert her starts into big scores or carry her bat in crucial situations. The team’s decision to send Deepti Sharma over an explosive hitter in Pooja Vastrakar when the Indian chase in the second ODI needed to go at a brisk pace left fans and pundits flummoxed. Richa’s elevation to number 3 is also puzzling, given that it not only puts her own explosive game on the line but also makes a player like Jemimah, who is willing to become a floater in the batting order, collateral damage.
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The Indian management sent Deepti Sharma at no.6 in the 2nd ODI, for a chase that required brisk scoring and strike rotation. Deepti struggled to get going against the Aussies, with the scoreboard pressure rising against India. The host eventually lost the game by a narrow three-run margin. Her strike rate in white ball cricket remains a work in progress but should the think tank considering promoting more explosive batters like Pooja Vastrakar in her place? | Photo Credit: LAVANYA LAKSHMI NARAYANAN
Communication is another issue facing this setup. While the players and coach have visibly been working on encouraging honest conversations among the playing group, the selectors of the women’s setup are insulated from queries and criticism. The committee, constituted by former India cricketers Neetu David, Renu Margrate, Arati Vaidya, Kalpana Venkatacha, and Shyama Dey Shaw, has never been mandated to address the media to explain team choices and omissions like the MSK Prasads, Chetan Sharma, and Ajit Agarkars have had to. Where are Shikha Pandey and Radha Yadav? What format is right-arm seamer Meghna Singh being kept aside for? What happens to players sidelined from playing contingents, and how are they motivated? Questions like these and more about several players who have fallen off the radar remain unanswered consequently.
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The Aussie template
‘Perform or perish’ goes the modus operandi of the Australian side. There are several suitors for one position, but in the end, only one wins, with the others constantly snapping at the heels of the player who nudged ahead.
No one knows the art of winning World Cups better than Australia. In this ODI series in Mumbai, Australia targeted its weaknesses with the aim of either testing potential replacements or giving players time to rework their strategy and return.
Alyssa Healy found form with the bat with a brisk 82-run knock in the 3rd ODI. Along with Phoebe Litchfield, Healy stitched an 189-run stand which is now the highest-ever opening partnership against India in this format. The duo broke Alex Blackwell and Meg Lanning’s old record of 180 at the same venue in 2012. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Healy opted to bat in the third ODI, an area that needs work. She worked herself out of the slump that comes with long injuries to register an 85-ball 82. In the second ODI, when Richa was inching close to what would have been a memorable ton, Australia looked out of the game entirely, with the bowlers unable to find a breakthrough. Healy brought in Annabel Sutherland, and her three strikes turned the game on its head. She defended 16 runs off the last over, aided by Deepti’s inability to time or position the ball in the gaps to find runs.
“Something about Australian sporting teams... we hang in there. We still believed we could win until the last ball, and that’s what made us successful,” Healy said after the game.
Another World Cup cycle paired with the same old problems isn’t great news for India or its newly formed think tank, especially when the quadrennial event is being held at home. Performing under pressure warrants more match practice and conditioning camps. Logical ruthlessness in the selection process might not be a bad way to go. Tests were Muzumdar’s wheelhouse, but white-ball cricket will test the coach-captain duo, especially with the gap narrowing between India and many other sides outside the holy trinity in the game.
Life in international women’s cricket gives you very few instances where Australia doesn’t enter a fixture as the automatic favourite. When you’re a side that has, in the recent past, been a thorn in the side of a champion outfit, the possibilities against a transitioning unit were manifold, and India should not control+alt+delete (fielding coach Munish Bali’s suggestion after the first ODI) how it squandered a fine chance to give the Aussies a taste of their own medicine.
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