India’s Women’s T20 World Cup disaster: Indecision, lack of intent, too many flaws

India were deemed as one of the favourites to lift the Women’s T20 World Cup title.

But then, the Women in Blue struggled throughout and crashed out after the group stages. It was also the first time India could not make their way through to the top four after 2016. Following their exit, the Indian team has been subjected to severe criticism and backlash.

After winning both their warm-up matches against West Indies and South Africa, India slumped to a 58-run loss to Sophie Devine’s New Zealand in their first group game. Although they went on to beat Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they lost to Tahlia McGrath’s Australia to find themselves in a massive hole.

After Pakistan lost to the White Ferns on Monday, India officially got knocked out of the competition. With their exit, India’s wait to win an ICC trophy in the women’s game continued. Let’s look at some of the reasons that led to India’s downfall in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024
Harmanpreet No.3 conundrum

Prior to the World Cup, head coach Amol Muzumdar said that India had decided to send Harmanpreet Kaur at No.3. Despite failures in their warm-up matches where she got scores of 10 and one, India stuck with their earlier plans. It backfired against New Zealand after she made only 15 before Rosemary Mair accounted for her wicket.

India pressed the panic button and sent Harmanpreet to No.4 against Pakistan, where she scored 29 before walking off with an injured neck. She was back to batting at No.3 against Sri Lanka where she hit India’s fastest fifty in the history of the Women’s T20 World Cup.

But to everyone’s surprise, Harmanpreet was again demoted to No.4 against Australia with the jugglery act between her and Jemimah Rodriques continuing. She did score an unbeaten 54, but her efforts went in vain. Although she finished as India’s top run-scorer, it still remains a surprise as to why her batting position was altered frequently.

Butter fingers

India dropped four catches across four matches in the T20 World Cup. The only match where they did not grasp an opportunity was when they won by 82 runs against Sri Lanka, their biggest in the history of the tournament. Richa Ghosh dropped a relatively easy chance against New Zealand, although she took a blinder to dismiss Fatima Sana against Pakistan.

Asha Sobhana let go of two simple chances against Pakistan. Skipper Harmanpreet also dropped an important catch to give Tahlia McGrath a lifeline in the game against Australia. India’s out-fielding was also questionable as Renuka Singh and others conceded runs that could have been avoided.

Lack of intent

After the loss to New Zealand, India looked cornered, but the road ahead was clear for them. Show intent or pack your bags for home. Against Pakistan, India were needed to fire on all cylinders and mend their net run rate which took a hammering following the defeat to the White Ferns.

But instead, India took 18.5 overs to chase a modest target of 106 in Dubai. Jemimah Rodrigues not being able to hit a single four out of 28 balls in her innings raised eyebrows. It was a victory that hurt India more than doing good to their campaign.

India woke from their slumber and smashed Sri Lanka into pieces. But they again went back into their shell against Australia. Chasing 152, India let the required rate climb to as high as 11.50 with around six overs left. Although Harmanpreet and Deepti Sharma upped the ante, neutralising an in-form Australian line-up was always going to be a tall order.

Harmanpreet’s lack of game awareness

With 14 runs needed in the last over against Australia, India had a realistic chance of taking Australia down. Harmanpreet Kaur, who had played many match-winning knocks for India over the years, notched a 44-ball half-century and was seeing the cricket ball like a football.

But then, her decision-making and game-sense of batting with the lower-order batters came under the scanner. She took a single off the first ball of the over and exposed Pooja Vastrakar, who had batted only once in the tournament against New Zealand.

Then again, Harmanpreet took a single on the fourth ball and exposed Shreyanka Patil, who was then needed to hit two sixes in a row to win the game for India. India lost four wickets in that over as things went completely haywire for them.

Smriti Mandhana’s lack of form

Smriti Mandhana has been a stalwart for the Indian women’s team, one of their more popular names. But she had a tournament to forget, barring her half-century against Sri Lanka. In four matches, Mandhana played with a strike-rate of 94.93, failing to take her team off to decent starts.

She was found wanting against spinners after Eden Carson, Sophie Molineux and Sadia Iqbal dismissed her. Mandhana tried to hit her way out of trouble, but just did not have an answer against quality spin-bowling, especially inside the powerplay.