 "ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024")
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024
India failed to bring their A-game to the UAE and saw themselves eliminated from the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 after New Zealand secured their third and final win of the group stage to take India’s place in the top two.
Placed in a group with defending champions Australia and two-time finalists New Zealand, India were expected to get past the group stage. However, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side was only able to win the matches they were expected to and failed to put up a fight against the likes of Australia and New Zealand.
Disappointing outings with the bat
What was expected to be India’s strong suit going into the tournament turned out to be the most disappointing part of their game. Experienced batters like Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, among others, failed to give India the edge with the bat and lost wickets at crucial stages of their innings throughout the tournament.
Opener Shafali Verma continued to struggle with her wicket loss, while Smriti Mandhana’s experience was notably absent during the chase against Australia.
Despite Harmanpreet ending up as the only half-centurion for India against the Aussies, she failed to take responsibility when 13 runs were needed from three deliveries and gave the strike to tailender Shreyanka Patil in the end.
Unforced errors on the field
While misfields and dropped catches have been common with the Women in Blue of late, the teams were automatically given the edge, which eventually cost India the matches as well.
Running between the wickets was also an integral part of batting in conditions like those in Dubai and Sharjah, where the outfield was not allowing the batters to hit fours regularly.
However, the lack of fitness was quite evident in the Indian batters, with the likes of Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh losing wickets because of the same.
Lack of preparation
India entered the tournament without playing a T20 series to finalise their playing 11, the batting order saw an unstable shuffling in the middle, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur coming in to bat at number three for the first two matches. However, the remaining games saw Jemimah Rodrigues taking the spot, in a decision that failed to justify itself in the end.
In the end, an upset like this could possibly be a blessing in disguise for the Women in Blue, who need to come back stronger and with better planning ahead of a big event like the World Cup.
First Published: Oct 15 2024 | 3:19 PM IST
