India Gets the Blues

IN SEPTEMBER 24, 2024, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur declared in the pre-departure press conference that this is the best-ever Indian team to participate in a T20 World Cup. She exuded confidence when she said it was India’s year. Exactly three weeks later, India are back home having failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup in what will rank as our worst performance in the last five years. Without being sensationalist, we must ask the hard questions. What went wrong and why do things keep going wrong with the women’s team, time and again? Why do things not improve and why haven’t key areas like fielding seen an upward curve despite specialised personnel in charge?

First things first—India were poor in the UAE. Of the four matches played, we lost two, won a scrappy one against a lowly-ranked Pakistan, and had one convincing game against Sri Lanka. India were rank bad against New Zealand in the opener, and against Australia, it was the same story of so-near-yet-so-far. Apart from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur doing well with the bat, none of the other batters stepped up and it was the same old story of not being able to deal with pressure. Someone like Smriti Mandhana, clearly one of the best in the world, underperformed yet again and her inability to stand up in big games cost India dear.

If the batting was a letdown, the fielding was worse. Simple catches were dropped and the ground fielding was below par. Unlike Australia and New Zealand, who attack the ball and do all they can to save that extra run, the Indians looked lethargic and jaded. We do not enjoy fielding and that is what is impacting the team now and then. What was surprising to see was what the players and coach said at the end of the campaign. Comments, such as “This is a special group and we were close”, do not hold water. We have not seen this team do anything special in the last half-decade. And we were not close either. Against New Zealand, we were outplayed and against Australia, we always played catch-up.

So, what is the way forward for the women’s game from here on, and can they draw a leaf out of the men’s game? The truth is India will need fresh thinking at the top. And yet, India will need to make sure that Harmanpreet Kaur is around to hold the batting unit together for she is still the best we have. As a leader, she was not up to the mark. As a batter, she was. That is where the call needs to be taken. Should India invest in Harmanpreet the leader, or is it time to work on Harmanpreet the batter? We lost the Asia Cup under her leadership not too long ago and the writing is on the wall. At 35, it is important India gets a new captain and leaves Harmanpreet to focus on her batting. Also, the obvious choice cannot be Smriti. In none of the big games in the white-ball format has Smriti delivered. Unlike in red ball, where she has been stellar, in white-ball cricket, her inconsistency has hurt India big in the last few years. We need to invest in a young leader and Jemimah Rodrigues is perhaps the option to turn to. In 2007, when the men’s team needed a new leader as Rahul Dravid stepped down, the selectors went for MS Dhoni. Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were both around, but the choice was one which went on to make history for Indian cricket. The women’s team needs to do something similar. While it is time to invest in Smriti in the red-ball format, it is essential we look at someone new in white-ball cricket.

The other key issue is fitness. Two of our best in Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh are not fit enough for the international game. At 20, Shafali is struggling and Richa is clearly not at her best behind the wickets as was evident time and again in the game against Australia. This is a real worry for fitness is basic for elite high-performance sportspeople. Under Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, the men’s team turned a new leaf and the results are now evident. The men’s team is clearly one of the best fielding sides in the world and the question is why has it not rubbed off on the women? Why should Shafali struggle to convert the ones into twos, so very important on a Sharjah wicket where hitting boundaries is hugely difficult. Richa, perhaps the only power hitter of calibre in the Indian lineup, conceded way too many extras and that puts a question mark on whether she deserves her place in the lineup.

In all, the campaign has been a disaster. But with every failure, there is an opportunity. To make amends and redeem. To get things right. Once we accept that there are issues, we can indeed take steps to remedy them. With BCCI investing in the women’s game and with pay and facilities no longer an issue, it is fair to expect that the women will soon turn a corner and deliver. With the men performing and not the women, this World Cup has pushed the sport back in India. Comparisons with Rohit Sharma are inevitable and with brands asking fans to become “pura fans” and support the women’s team with equal verve, more so. Rohit brought in a fresh approach to India’s white-ball cricket in the home World Cup in October-November 2023. The approach was fraught with risk but the skipper was willing to take them and lead from the front. It worked for Rohit and now has been taken a step forward by Surya and Gautam Gambhir in the T20 format. With the women, India were not sure where to bat Harman all through the World Cup. She twice batted at three and twice at four. Was it part of the strategy? Maybe not. The truth is roles are not clearly defined and that cost India. Key calls like under-bowling Radha Yadav against Australia on a wicket which offered assistance, hurt the team. And it is not the first time. Time and again, India has come close and time and again, we have ended up second-best.

With the next World Cup a year away, it is time to make the changes. Be constructively critical and take the calls. Accept the mistakes and make amends. Seek accountability from the players and the support staff. To say we competed is not good enough anymore. We cannot be gallant losers, going forward. The truth is there is no gallant loser. There is either a winner or a loser in sport, and the Indian women’s team has not won anything in the last few years. Someone like Deepti Sharma who failed under pressure in the 2017 World Cup in England continues to fail under pressure in the 2024 World Cup in Dubai and Sharjah. The game has not progressed despite all the facilities on offer, and that is a cause for worry. Clearly, the early World Cup exit has given BCCI the opportunity. To take stock and put in place the correctives. The sport needs change and the fans need to see action. The clock is ticking.

AustraliaHarmanpreet KaurIndian Women Cricket TeamSharjahWomen’s T20 World Cup