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With one win and one defeat in their first two games, India’s Women’s T20 World Cup campaign is off to a mixed start and they need to fire on all cylinders in the remaining two group games to keep their semi-final chances alive.
The defeat to New Zealand in the opening game by 58 runs and a tight win over Pakistan in the next fixture hasn’t helped the net run rate which is a disappointing -1.217.
The batters had a chance to improve that number during the modest chase versus Pakistan but it didn’t prove to be the case as they overhauled the 106-run target in 18.5 overs.
Now, India take on Sri Lanka in a do-or-die clash today (9 October) where they need a convincing win to keep knockout hopes alive.
Ahead of the clash, former India cricketer Reema Malhotra, who has featured in 41 ODIs and 22 T20Is, spoke exclusively to TimesofIndia.com on India’s chances and how lack of intent has been a cause of worry. Edited excerpts:
Q. Are you surprised at the lack of intent in the tournament from India?
See when we talk about a T20 match, it’s all about intent and approach. Even I did not notice the aggression and intent in the first two matches when India was batting. Maybe the wickets aren’t that conducive to strokeplay. This World Cup was supposed to be held in Bangladesh and here in UAE matches were already being played. The wickets were not that well prepared and these are used wickets. So I doubt scores of 170-180 will be achieved. But yes, to score 140-150 you’ll have to show intent. And this is a cause of concern for India.
If we talk about the first match against New Zealand, it was a total batting collapse. If the highest score was 15, then it was a total collapse. Against Pakistan, India came back well, with a win, but at the same time when you know that you can win, then India should have accelerated, because to beat New Zealand’s net run rate you had to chase down the target against Pakistan in 11.2 overs. But you couldn’t do it. Fair enough. But then you could have chased that in 15-16 overs against Pakistan. I feel India will have to show their A game and play aggressive cricket even though it may backfire, but now just winning will not be enough.
Q: Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma haven’t fired in the tournament. Has that hurt India?
Now, India not just have to win, they will have to improve net run rate and all batters will have a role in that, especially Smriti Mandhana who has had two bad games. If you want a big score, you need a solid opening partnership. Pick any team… no team has had a big partnership because the ball is gripping on the pitch, the wicket is slightly on the slower side where the role of spinners and cutters is gradually increasing. Every batter is struggling. But if you look at the knocks of Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry against New Zealand yesterday, they took time in their knocks. There was a time when Perry had scored just 3 runs off 10 balls but after that she got set and scored runs. Beth Mooney too planned the same. So I feel that you cannot get off to a blazing start but you can go bang-bang after getting set and make sure you don’t give away your wicket at that time. Spend some time at the wicket to get used to the pace.
Q: Do you think India can reach the semifinals?
See, we’re hoping for the best. New Zealand have lost to Australia. India now has to make sure to win against Sri Lanka and Australia first and win by a big margin. Rest we are dependent on other teams and will have to wait for the result in the match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka and the team that plays well on that day adjusting to the pitch, will reach the finals.
Q: Who do you think is the strongest contender for the title?
Without any doubt, Australia. If you look at their batting line-up, they have so much of depth, they have a number of all-rounders, in-form players, they have a left-arm spinner, a leg-spinner, they have the experience of Megan Schutt whose cutters haven’t been read by any batter till now. Yesterday she (Megan Schutt) took 3 wickets for 3 runs. Add to that the experience of Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry. Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath haven’t fired yet. So Australia is the team to beat and they will lose only when they play badly.
Q: What impact do you think the Women’s T20 World Cup will have on women’s cricket globally?
Impact of a big tournament is always big. If we talk about ICC tournaments, World Cups, then the impact is not just on cricketing nations but it also brings excitement to non-cricketing nations and they are pursued to play cricket which is an exciting game. A country like Scotland hasn’t won any match as yet but their performance has been impressive, they beat Pakistan in the warm-up game. So this is the T20 effect. You may not see many teams as of now, but in times to come, there will be many teams. UAE is making good progress. USA is investing so much in cricket, Canada is building its own team, Scotland is playing well. Teams are coming up and big tournaments have a big reach and impact and in times to come, you will see cricket in Olympics and everywhere.
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