Before the Indian team left for the UAE for the 2024 T20 Women's World Cup, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur claimed that the 15-member squad was the best group to ever play the showpiece match in the shortest format. But it all came crashing down when India lost to 58 runs at the hands of New Zealand in their tournament opener in Dubai and from there they simply played catch-up until the writing on the wall became clear: of them having to end up in the group stage for the first time since 2016 the T20 World Cups.
Former India captain Anjum Chopra said the side has not achieved real success in playing the shortest format, individually or as a whole, leading to their early exit from the T20 World Cup.
“I feel that the Indian team is a work in progress when it comes to playing T20 cricket. They still haven't managed to crack the code individually and collectively on how to play T20 cricket.”
“Certain players, starting with Harmanpreet Kaur, because she plays in the middle order or probably sometimes in the top order, know exactly when to follow the innings. But I can't say the same for everyone else. It's not just because they lost at the World Cup. I have already said these words before the Indian team is a work in progress.”
“When they played their first match against New Zealand, I thought they were a bit underprepared and possibly they didn't expect New Zealand to come down hard on them, which again is very wrong. It's because when you play a World Cup, you have to expect every team to win the World Cup in the World Cup scenario too, and not just participate. So that was not right.”
“Once that realization happened, when New Zealand started batting the way they were attacking the ball, I felt the realization that they had to turn things around quickly and maybe bat a lot better than what they were playing, but that didn't happen . The shell shock approach from the first two overs to the 40th over was just there, very visible for the Indian team,” Anjum said in an exclusive chat with IANS from Dubai.
She also pointed out that India never felt like a team that was in the UAE to win the tournament. “So once they had that setback, against Pakistan it was just about winning for them, which I think was a very defensive approach. You can expect that to happen because you just lost the first game.”
'Now you try to stay in contention during the tournament. On the other hand, there was a slightly much better performance in Sri Lanka, but not a convincing performance individually. By the time Australia came you needed all the units to fire.”
“Australia are not going to give you chances to get back into a game or maybe give anything at all, especially when they know they were missing their captain. So overall I thought they were behind the game rather than leading, and that was true throughout the tournament.
“So individually I don't think they arrived on the right track. If you want to win a World Championship, you come for it. Yes, Australia has a stronger team. We all know that, but at least come to the tournament in a style or in a way that you are there to win it, not just to compete, but that didn't happen with the Indian team.
This year, India played the T20 series against Australia, Bangladesh and South Africa before finishing runners-up in the Asia Cup. Curiously, they didn't play an international match after that until the clash against New Zealand on October 6. Instead, India had two preparatory camps at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
While one camp revolved around fielding and fitness, and brought in a sports psychologist, the other camp focused on skills, apart from five intra-squad matches held in Bengaluru. But Anjum felt that despite all the preparations, similar mistakes that earlier caused India's downfall had returned again in the UAE.
“I felt like the mistakes or the lagging in the match, which was there in the earlier T20 events or a World Cup, was still happening there. You can't keep making the same mistake. Then that means that your preparation is incomplete, or that you have not learned the skill.”
“The same mistakes can't happen over and over again. If the same mistake occurs, there is certainly a deficiency in skill level, preparation or adaptation. So that needs to be identified and that needs to be clubbed down. Changing people and institutions will not simply solve the problem.”
“We have everything in our country. BCCI offers us everything in our country, from preparation to matches and everything a player needs to become a world champion. So I think that's been taken care of. It is up to the way in which they, as players, can use everything to their advantage,” she concludes.
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