India could not have asked for a better start to their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign. A shock victory over defending champions and hosts Australia set the ball rolling for Harmanpreet Kaur and her girls. Two days later, India made it 2 in 2 with a relatively comfortable win over Asian champions Bangladesh.
On Thursday, India will face one of their stiffest tests so far as they take on higher-ranked New Zealand in Melbourne.
It’s been so far, so good for India at the showpiece event Down Under. While Poonam Yadav’s leg-spin masterclass got the job done for them against Australia, a quickfire 39 from teenage opener Shafali Verma helped them get 2 more points against Bangladesh.
Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shikha Pandey. It’s early days in the tournament but India seem to be reliant on individual brilliance to get them past the finish line against both Australia and Bangladesh, especially when it comes to the batting unit.
While the bowlers have hunted in packs, the same cannot be said about India’s star-studded batting unit.
It’s important to highlight the fact that India had struggled with their batting in the recent past. Far too often, there have been collapses that have seen Harmanpreet Kaur’s team lose from comfortable positions.
Take the 3-match T20I series in New Zealand in 2019 for instance. Here’s the pattern: 102-2 to 136-all out. 79 for 2 to 139 for 6. 102 for 2 to 159 for 4. India were blanked 3-0 and on all these occasions, victory was in sight.
In the recently-concluded T20I tri-series, it was a familiar story for India. Despite a Smriti Mandhana fifty in the final, India lost to Australia, failing to chase a par total of 156.
At the ongoing T20 World Cup, contributions from Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Veda Krishnamurthy has made sure there has not been any costly collapse so far.
However, the lack of firepower in the middle order still is a cause of concern for India who are looking good to challenge the best in the business Down Under.
Against New Zealand, who have orchestrated India’s batting collapses in the past, it’s going to be a tough test for India. At the same time, it’s an opportunity for Harmanpreet Kaur’s unit to step up.
India’s head-to-head record against New Zealand is far from impressive. 3 wins and 8 losses in 11 meetings so far. However, Harmanpreet’s girls can take confidence from their win over New Zealand in the opener of Women’s T20 World Cup 2018.
It was Harmanpreet who stepped up and smashed a 51-ball 103 to bat New Zealand out of the contest in West Indies.
And India need its captain and star player to step up more than ever. In 18 matches since the last T20 World Cup, Harmanpreet Kaur has scored just 280 runs at an average of 21.53.
Incidentally, there has no fifty-plus scores for her in the said period.
With scores of 2 and 8, it has not been Harmanpreet’s tournament so far. Can she step up and deliver on Thursday?
“If you want to win a big tournament like the World Cup, you have to come up as a team and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Harmanpreet had said ahead of the tournament.
It’s the right time for her to join the party!
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