India were the finalists in the 2017 edition and should naturally look to go one better this time at the 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup, but for that to happen, Mithali Raj and Co will have to play some of their best cricket in recent time.
Since 2019, India have won 13 and lost 15 ODIs. This time period has been used by the management and selectors to reform the team in order to keep pace with the modern-day women’s cricket that keeps evolving at a swift rate. The run rates and strike rates have shot up exponentially in the game in recent years, and time and again it has been stressed by skipper Mithali that India need to score 250 consistently to challenge teams like Australia and England.
The good news is that the experimentations have yielded some good results. For a team, that only managed one 250+ score in five matches in the South Africa ODI series in 2021, surpassed the benchmark number comfortably on three occasions in the recent five-match series against World Cup hosts New Zealand.
However, if form is a marker, then India enter the World Cup on the back of four consecutive ODI series losses against South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand — four teams who are the favourites for the semi-final spots. While India have made progress in the batting department, there’s still room for improvement in the bowling and fielding departments.
But the Asian team has shown in the last two editions of cricket World Cups — 2017 ODI World Cup and 2020 T20 World Cup — that how you perform in the tournament is all that matters. The India squad consists of eight new faces as compared to the 2017 squad with valuable additions in all departments besides retaining the core. They walk into the tournament with a fine balance of experience and youth. Their ability to work well together, rise to the occasion and give their best under the crunch situations as seen in the past should serve them well. Their focus should be on reaching the semi-final and from thereon it’s anybody’s game.
Strength
India Women for a long time relied on the blockbuster stars — Smriti Mandhana, Mithali and Harmanpreet Kaur — to get required runs on the board, but they enter the World Cup with a capable support cast. The emergence of Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh combined with Deepti Sharma’s finishing skills make batting the core strength on which the team would rely to get across the finishing line. The impact of the batting potential was there to see in the recently-concluded ODI series against New Zealand.
Mithali continues to bat at the No 4 spot for India and has scored nine fifties in 16 matches since 2021. However, the World Cup is the perfect opportunity for the veteran batter to promote herself to the No 3 spot. Coming in early, will not only allow her to have more time to set her game up but also anchor the innings towards big totals without putting herself under excessive pressure.
Weakness
We could see India relying excessively on spinners in the World Cup given the lack of depth in the pace department. In a surprising move, Shikha Pandey was omitted from the squad and Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh are yet to establish themselves at the international stage.
Jhulan Goswami remains one of the best operators out there but she will need good support from fellow pacers otherwise taking early wickets and containing teams in death overs could possibly become a problem for India at the World Cup.
Opportunity
Mithali and Jhulan have been one of the greatest ever to grace the field and a World Cup title win would be a fitting end to their storied careers, but cricket is a team sport and the veterans would need all the possible support from their teammates to fulfill their dreams.
The Indian squad is packed with some extremely gifted youngsters in Shafali, Richa, Yastika, Meghna and Renuka and it’s a glorious opportunity for the players to make the world sit up and take notice of their talents.
Threat
In Harmanpreet and Shafali, India have two players who can decide the course of a match single-handedly but both the players have struggled for form recently. Shafali only has two fifties to her name in 11 matches since 2021.
Harmanpreet has not scored a century since the brilliant 171 not out against Australia in the 2017 World Cup. The middle-order batter has only scored three fifties since 2018, though she found some form recently, scoring a fifty in her last ODI and then a century in a warm-up game.
Both the batters form the core of India’s batting unit and it’s imperative they fire at the World Cup, else it will leave a lot for others to do.
Key player
Jhulan Goswami
With 245 wickets, Jhulan Goswami is the highest wicket-taker in women’s ODIs. Image: Twitter/@BCCIWomen
Jhulan may be 39 years old but she remains the most important bowler for India. In the last five years, Jhulan leads the wicket-taker’s list for India in ODIs with 68 scalps. The only pacer in this time to take more than 15 wickets is Shikha who is not part of the Indian squad. The numbers tell a clear story — India are heavily dependent on Jhulan to take early wickets and bowl the crucial death overs. As always, Jhulan needs to do well for India to do well.
Fixtures
6 March — vs Pakistan
10 March — vs New Zealand
12 March — vs West Indies
16 March — vs England
19 March — vs Australia
22 March — vs Bangladesh
28 March — vs South Africa
Squad
Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav
Standby Players: Sabbhineni Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur
Likely playing XI
Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Mithali Raj (C), Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
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