Follow UsThe Indian women’s team won the ODI tri-nation series featuring Sri Lanka and South Africa in a manner that would make any fan of theirs buoyant. The positives, according to skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, were so many from the series that she couldn’t list them all during the post-match presentation itself.
While there were many positives, the glaring fatal flaws in India’s squad and strategy were all too evident. With the ODI World Cup scheduled for September-October later this year, these flaws might just prove to be the biggest impediments in India’s path to glory.
Let’s see what the key takeaways were from this tri-nation series for India:
Sneh Rana’s comeback for the ages
15 wickets
5 games
Bowling average of 14
With Deepti Sharma and the recent emergence of Shreyanka Patil on the scene, off-spinning all-rounder Sneh Rana gradually drifted out of the scene of the senior team, despite being efficient at what she was asked to do.
While the dropping wasn’t entirely her fault, Rana prepared hard during the time she was out, and when she made a comeback after a short stint at the Women’s Premier League (WPL), she not only looked ready but was a strike bowling option for Harmanpreet.
Rana’s USP with the ball is her ability to keep turning the ball and maintaining a tight line on the stumps. She did exactly that, gave only 4.7 runs/over, and took a wicket every 17.7 deliveries. Her time of employment during the innings was also crucial through the series, as Harmanpreet employed Rana as her ace bowler.
With the ODI World Cup only a few months away, and will be held in similar conditions in India, Rana might just have booked her place in the squad with this Player of the series winning performance.
Harleen Deol and Pratika Rawal are slowing the Indian top order
Harleen Deol - 157 runs @39.25, strike rate of 73.4
Pratika Rawal - 194 runs @48.5, strike rate of 78.9
Smriti Mandhana - 264 runs @52.79, strike rate of 90.4
The pattern in the Indian top three batters and their numbers is pretty evident here — Mandhana is the only aggressor in the top order, with Rawal and Deol batting in anchor mode. As a result, especially on slow tracks where it becomes hard to get going from ball one, the Indian batting innings get stuck at the top. That also brings extra burden of aggression on Mandhana, who is already tasked with giving India consistent starts.
In the only match that India lost in the competition, it was the slowness of batting and the lack of intent at the top that restricted India to 275 on a track which wasn’t very different from the one today, where 342 runs were scored by the Indian team.
The solution to this problem is right there — bring in Shafali Verma, who has been in stellar domestic form with the bat and is scoring tons of runs. Rawal, who is a very solid batter and is capable of moving around the strike, can replace Deol at three and Mandhana can open the innings along with Verma.
However, it seems like the selectors don’t have Shafali Verma as a part of their plan.
Jemimah - The Gem
Only four batters scored more than 200 runs in this tri-series, and only one averaged above 60 and also struck at 115 or above — Jemimah Rodrigues.
So good was Rodrigues at five for India, that the only game where she struck below 100, India lost that game. Every single time she stepped out to bat, she not only elevated India’s momentum but also the eventual score that India managed to achieve at the end of 50 overs.
Amol Muzumdar slotted Rodrigues at five to help India maximise their batting potential towards the latter half of the innings, and the table above shows that she managed to do exactly that for her team. Come the World Cup, she would be one of the most important wickets for the opposition.
How many debuts are too many debuts
Mannat Kashyap, Asha Sobhana, Arundhati Reddy, Tejal Hasabnis, Saima Thakor, Priya Mishra, Titas Sadhu, Minnu Mani, Pratika Rawal, Tanuja Kanwar, Sayali Sathgare, Kashvee Gautam, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay, Kranti Goud, Shreyanka Patil.
These are all the players who have made their ODI debut for India since December 2023, right before the ODI World Cup this year. If you comb through these, you’ll find India debuted 16 players in 23 games, and 10 of them are either fast bowlers/fast bowling all-rounders or left-arm spinners. There are two leg spinners, two off-spinning all-rounders and two batters (one top order, one middle order) as well.
This tells you many key things about the Indian side: One, they lack good pace bowling options, as injuries and non selection of Shikha Pandey despite availability has made India go to newbies and rookies and who have come on the international stage undercooked, or eventually faded away due to lack of wickets. Two, India also lack a solid spinner who can take the ball away from right handers. With Radha Yadav not performing as expected with the ball, that problem exacerbated itself.
These two bowling types have been India’s Achilles heel in the bowling department, and even in this tri-series, it was quite evident. Team management has also created a lot of chaos by making such frequent changes, and just a few months before a home ODI World Cup, India don’t know who their pacers and left-arm spinners are.