Skip the Skipper

INDIAN CAPTAINCY is difficult. You are always under scrutiny. And when you don’t win a major tournament in five or more years, the pressure becomes all the more difficult to handle. That’s the case with Harmanpreet Kaur. By the time you read this piece, we would have known India’s fate in the ongoing Women’s World Cup. If they win against New Zealand, which I believe they will, they’d have lived on to play another day. If they lose, it will be all over. And in the centre of it all is Harmanpreet Kaur.

Let’s take the New Zealand game out of the equation for a while. Do we see Harmanpreet continue in the job post the World Cup? With three back-to-back losses from winning positions, should India ask her to lead going forward, or is it time to go to Smriti and let Harmanpreet focus on her batting for the rest of her career? Harmanpreet is still one of the best batters India has. Her innings against England is evidence she still has the shots and the ability. With two down and with Smriti still not in her groove, India needed Harmanpreet to counterpunch, and she did that in style. Drives and cuts and lofted shots, the innings had it all. And just when it seemed India had taken complete control, did she hold out to third man. That’s where a little more application was needed. Five more overs of Harmanpreet out there would have sealed the deal and the campaign.

The moot point is India needs Harmanpreet the batter, and it is certainly not time to look beyond her. I can’t say the same thing for Harmanpreet the captain. When things don’t go your way, it is the job of the captain to shield the players and take things head-on. She needed to come to the press conference after the defeat against England and not send Smriti. The very same can be said of her after the defeat against Australia, or for that matter, South Africa. Not once did she face the media. Not once did she take the hard questions. This is where Harmanpreet has let the team down.

And when it comes to decision-making as leader, she has been found wanting. Take the England game. Shree Charani did not have a good day from the very first over. Her first two cost her 16 and the English batters played her easily. When it came to bowling the last over of the English innings, Harmanpreet had the option of going to Renuka Thakur. She has the experience and also the skill to bowl at the death. Yet, she went to Charani. All of a sudden, 15 runs were scored and a 275-280 score turned out to be 288. The winning margin for England was 4 runs in the end. Charani bowled a very poor 50th over and allowed the batters to cut or hit straight down the ground. It was a poor call and India paid the price.

Against Australia, clearly the best team in the tournament, India got off to a fantastic start. A first wicket 100-run partnership is rare and that’s what Smriti and Pratika managed to put together. That’s when Harmanpreet should have come herself, taken control of the game and powered on. Or send Richa, someone who could push the scoring rate and not play a slew of dot balls. India did not do anything of the like and sent in Harleen Deol. Inevitably, Harleen started slow and the pressure mounted on Pratika as well. By the time Harleen was dismissed, India had lost a little bit of the momentum and ended up with 330, which in conditions that favoured batting, was short by 15-20 runs.

Harmanpreet and Amol Muzumdar have both been rather timid in this World Cup and it has been evident in their decision-making. It is time to look beyond Harmanpreet the captain to protect Harmanpreet the batter. Whatever happens in the World Cup, India will need fresh thinking and Smriti should be the one entrusted to lead.