India’s second consecutive group-stage exit at the Women's T20 World Cup was on the cards even before the tournament. Some ordinary cricket at various points added to it.
The problem India had
When a back injury forced seam-bowling all-rounder Amanjot Kaur out of the T20 World Cup, India tried to replace her with Kashvee Gautam – as close to a like-for-like replacement as possible. Unfortunately, when Gautam suffered a knee injury, India ran out of options. This offset their team balance completely.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and chair of selectors Amita Sharma spoke of how Amanjot’s skills in all three departments made her vital, and how her absence posed a problem for India. In Amanjot, they lost an all-rounder, an extra seamer, and a power hitter – all in one.
It is not that India did not try. They used three cricketers to fill those roles – all-rounder Radha Yadav, seamer Nandani Sharma, and power-hitter Bharati Fulmali. Between them, they fulfilled the three roles – but they were three cricketers, not one. Throughout the World Cup, India tried to address this balance issue – but they could never quite crack it.
Bordering on the overcautious
India became 18-2 inside four overs in their opener, against Pakistan. Since their batting virtually ended at seven (see above), Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur had little option but to prod along. The final high-risk onslaught was invariably delayed. India’s obvious superiority ensured they easily beat Pakistan (and then the Netherlands), but the problem did not go away.
This surfaced again in India’s most important match of the group stage, against South Africa. Here, India could never really acclerate after Shafali Verma’s early blitz, losing wickets in the third, sixth, eighth, 11th, and 15th overs. Richa Ghosh, one of the most feared batters in the format, had to come in the 15th over with the knowledge that there was no bona-fide hitter after her. India could only get to 158-7, about 10 to 15 runs fewer than what the presence of another hitter might have got them.
Realising this, India got in Radha for the Bangladesh game. While not quite Shree Charani or Deepti Sharma with the ball, Radha’s batting gave India the depth they needed at eight. The Deepti-Amanjot-Radha combination had, after all, been vital for them in the final stages of the ODI World Cup. Despite pushing India in their chase, Bangladesh had not scored enough to really threaten them. It seemed that India had finally found the right balance.
But in the Australia encounter, the Indian openers took their time, presumably because quick wickets had hurt them in the past, forcing their middle order into doldrums. Unfortunately, they probably bordered on the overcautious, ignoring the extra hitter they had now. Despite Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, and Radha all waiting, the decision to retire out Jemimah Rodrigues came far too late.
The futility of the second seamer
Across five games in the league stage, India bowled 66.3 overs of spin (the most after the West Indies). Their spinners took 29 wickets (no other team had 23), and had the best average (15.34) and fourth-best economy (6.69).
At the same time, India bowled 26.1 overs of seam (the joint-fewest, alongside Sri Lanka and the West Indies). They went for 8.98 an over, the worst after the Netherlands’ 9.67. It was evident that India relied heavily on their world-class spin attack.
The problem was, they still needed to get the overs of seam. In Amanjot’s absence, they felt compelled to pick two seamers. Among them, Nandani picked three wickets, but two of them came against the Netherlands. Between them, Kranti Gaud and Arundhati Reddy had figures of 11-0-102 across five games. Of the Indian seamers, only Renuka Singh Thakur – who played two games – bowled three overs a match.
As we have seen, India bowled a shade over five overs of seam per match. Yet, for that, they were compelled to pick two seamers, none of whom was an Amanjot-type hitter (see how it keeps coming back to the same point?). Not only were India playing one seamer too many but none of the bowles got a continuous run.
Could India have really gone in with one specialist seamer? Too left-field, one may say ... but India had done that, in Australia in 2020. They picked Reddy for two games, realised the futility, replaced her with Radha, and went in with Shikha Pandey as the lone seamer for the rest of the World Cup. It remains India’s best effort in the history of the tournament.
Of course, it is easy to speak in hindsight. “If you look at our bowling attack, it’s been very inexperienced as far as international cricket is concerned,” head coach Amol Muzumdar reiterated in the post-tournament press conference. “Give us 18 months and this attack will be a different one.”
And then, the dropped chances...
Despite everything, India could have qualified for the semi-finals. The format meant that all they needed was to beat South Africa, and prevent Pakistan, the Netherlands, and Bangladesh from pulling off upsets.
They did the second bit. Against South Africa, they dropped Marizanne Kapp no less than thrice. Sometimes that is all it takes. It was not only about that one game either: they grassed 10 catches in five games.
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