TEAM INDIA PREVIEW
Follow UsNo press conference to announce the squad. No Chief Selector’s press meet to explain why certain players were picked, and why some were dropped out of the blue. There’s also no permanent Head Coach with the team to form a coherent vision for it. Questions, as usual, thronged the minds of the fans and experts alike, but as Bob Dylan says, ‘the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.’
A new tournament is starting, and as we have done before, we’ll completely ignore the above and move directly to the cricket part because what else can we do apart from venting our anger on our keyboards?
So yeah - Welcome to Indian women’s cricket, people!
As cricket service resumes in the arena of Women In Blue, we move to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China - the second multi-sport event Harmanpreet Kaur’s team will be a part of in a year. After winning the silver medal and coming agonisingly close to the gold in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022, the Indian girls would start as favourites for the gold medal on the newly built Pingfeng Cricket field.
The team is coming together for the first time after the tour of Bangladesh in July, which ended on a sour note for the Indian camp as their captain was banned for two matches by the ICC for smashing the stumps in protest of an umpiring decision. Because of that ban, Harmanpreet will miss the Quarterfinal against Malaysia tomorrow and potentially the semi-finals if India qualifies. Smriti Mandhana, who has captained India in Kaur’s absence before, will lead the Women in Blue.
Also read - Asia Cup done, now it’s Asian Games time
India has gone with the set opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana at the top, with Jemimah Rodrigues coming in at 3. Harmanpreet would have batted at 4, but since she is banned for two games, she’ll only return to the XI in this tournament if the Women in Blue make the final.
Richa Ghosh is back to the side as the main wicket-keeper after playing the Hundred, where her batting form was lukewarm at best. But in the absence of Harman, she has to bear the power-hitting responsibilities to ensure the team reaches above-par totals. Deepti Sharma would join her in the middle order, and this time, the team would expect a lot more from her with the bat as she’s the main middle-order batter in Harman's absence.
Two youngsters are also coming into the team - Minnu Mani, the off-spinning allrounder who has played a few games for India before, and Kanika Ahuja, who will debut in the tournament. Both play in the middle order for their domestic teams, and Kanika mainly played the finisher’s role in the first edition of the WPL this year. That performance has got her in this squad, and the Indian team would also expect her to perform the same role that she played for RCB, as they need a powerful hitter in the lower order.
Pooja Vastrakar made her comeback in the side after left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani was injured, and she would add a lot of heft to the lower middle-order batting for India. Amanjot Kaur is the other pace-bowling all-rounder in the squad, and India would need her to perform well with the ball in the absence of Renuka Thakur, who is reportedly injured (if you are expecting any clarity on her injury, re-read the first paragraph).
Titas Sadhu, the teen pace bowling sensation from Bengal, who recently impressed a lot in the U-19 World Cup in South Africa, could also debut for India in this tournament as she’s the only specialist pacer in the side. Devika Vaidya is the sole leg-spinner in the side, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Anushka Bareddy provide the left-arm spin options. Uma Chetry has been slotted in as the reserve keeper.
India face Malaysia tomorrow in the Quarterfinals, and their probable XI could look something like this:
Smriti Mandhana ©, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Pooja Vastrakar, Devika Vaidya, Amanjot Kaur, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
India’s all-round strength and batting strength are apparent from this XI, but the team had the same amount of batting depth in the Bangladesh series in July, and they only managed to win 2-1 in the T20 series and drew 1-1 in the ODI series. So they may start as the favourites in this tournament but can’t get complacent as the three other full-member women's teams from Asia who are favorites for the semi-finals - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan - are on the rise.
Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lanka recently defeated England in England, and Nida Dar’s Pakistani team defeated World Cup finalists South Africa 3-0 in a T20I series at home. If they make it to the top 4, India are likely to face Bangladesh, and as they realised two months ago, they can’t get complacent against the latter.
Meanwhile, the pitches at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket field will be heavily re-used and are hence bound to get tired and slow. Indian batters, especially Mandhana and Shafali, have found it tough to play on such tracks. So, how the Indian batting tackles the spin challenge from the other Asian teams would be crucial to India’s future in the tournament.
The Indian team, who is again participating in a tournament without a consistent coaching staff, will be the leading contenders for the gold medal in their first-ever Asian Games. However, as we have seen before, complacency and ambiguity in their on-field strategies and team selection will be their biggest challenge.
