Late on Sunday evening in Sharjah after the defeat in opposition to Australia, India head coach Amol Muzumdar was requested if he has any message for the staff that he’s backing to win the ultimate Group A match. He chuckled, took just a few seconds to nod his head, and mentioned: “That’s a superb query. Yeah, that’s a superb query. Properly, I simply need to want Pakistan all the most effective. That’s all I can say. However we shall be watching the sport very intently, that’s for certain.”
And so forth Monday, India’s final probability went out of the window. Pakistan should have given them hope after they restricted New Zealand 110/6 in 20 overs. It might have been a a lot decrease rating, thoughts you. Pakistan dropped extra catches than you possibly can depend on one hand and it made their very own lives tougher, not simply India’s. Fatima Sana’s aspect needed to chase no matter goal New Zealand set inside 11 overs and so they gave themselves a a lot stiffer goal than what their bowling efficiency deserved.
And in making an attempt to provide themselves the prospect to create historical past by reaching the semifinal for the primary time, they created a report of the undesirable type. All out for 56, their lowest rating on this format. Pakistan didn’t do themselves any favour, they definitely didn’t do any for India. However in all equity, neither did India.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Co’s marketing campaign, maybe fittingly, got here to an finish underneath the lights in Dubai with New Zealand rising victorious.
Lengthy camp
As has been identified earlier, India surprisingly simply opted for coaching camps within the lead as much as the event when most high groups performed some form of aggressive cricket within the two months prior. When the schedule for the World Cup got here out, you possibly can instantly see India’s first match in opposition to New Zealand was going to be huge. They needed to be dialled in from the primary ball, in any other case it had the potential to be a digital knockout. However now we have since been instructed by the Indian think-tank that they weren’t fairly prepared for the circumstances within the UAE, and paid the worth for conceding 160 in opposition to New Zealand at a venue the place run-scoring hasn’t been simple. The batting collapse that evening solely made issues worse.
“By way of preparation, we had all the things moving into that camp in Bangalore. We had two camps, one was devoted in the direction of health and fielding, and the opposite one was simply the ability camp,” Muzumdar mentioned after the defeat in opposition to Australia. “We did have about eight weeks to organize. I couldn’t have requested for extra from my assist employees and the gamers, and preparation for this World Cup was thorough. We got here into this World Cup actually upbeat. Yeah, it’s a little disappointing to lose the 2 video games within the league levels.”
Fielding, whereas nonetheless not good, has develop into one thing of a scapegoat for India’s defeats, hiding different flaws. For all of the dropped catches, India had been main the way in which within the event when it comes to catching effectivity. It shouldn’t be ignored that, alongside the way in which, there have been just a few choice head-scratchers as nicely.
Musical chairs at No.3
The No.3 slot witnessed a case of musical chairs in 2024. India have used six totally different gamers in that place. Nobody apart from Pakistan performed extra batters in that place since December 2024. Simply earlier than the World Cup, Muzumdar mentioned Harmanpreet was going to bat at that place, and even that wasn’t maintained persistently. Aside from that, in eager to have a sixth bowling possibility, India weakened their batting lineup whereas additionally taking part in three pacers in a few matches regardless of circumstances favouring slower bowlers. England, for example, have persistently performed a four-pronged spin assault.
The inconsistencies of their batting lineup didn’t assist both. A lot was anticipated from Smriti Mandhana, contemplating her purple patch earlier within the 12 months. Aside from the match in opposition to Sri Lanka, she seemed a shadow of that. In reality, besides Harmanpreet, no different batter had a marketing campaign to recollect.
Semifinalists in 2018. Finalists in 2020. Semifinalists in 2023, however a heartbreaking defeat within the semifinal in opposition to Meg Lanning’s Australia, that actually might have gone both approach. Over the past three editions of the ICC Girls’s T20 World Cup, India had been nicely and really within the combine within the enterprise finish of the event. The trophy eluded them, certain, however they got here inside a step or two over the past 5 years.
Granted, their group was troublesome to get out of. However courtesy of a poor begin, they ended up lacking out on the semifinal for the primary time for the reason that house version of 2016. In 2024 – after they had been anticipated to take a step ahead with lengthy overdue enhancements round ladies’s cricket within the nation – India took a step again.
