Harmanpreet Kaur, Amol Muzumdar
MUMBAI: They are the current world champions in the 50 overs game, but the India women’s team clearly has some creases to iron out before it can hope to achieve similar glory in T20 cricket.
On Monday in Benoni, India went down to hosts South Africa by 23 runs in the fifth and final T20I, failing to chase down just 156 as they were restricted to 132 for eight in 20 overs. The defeat meant that the Women-in-Blue lost the series with a 4-1 scoreline, certainly not a good build-up to the upcoming 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in England, which is scheduled to start from June 12.Worryingly, South Africa are clubbed in Group A with India, with defending champions Australia, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Pakistan being the other teams. However, after the last match of the series in South Africa, the Indian women’s team head coach Amol Muzumdar chose to look at the gains from the series, though he did confess that the team has “been a little disappointed with the 4-1 result.”“I think it’s been a fantastic series, fought really well. It was a competitive series. We were expecting it right from the start and it’s been fantastic to come here in South Africa.
Obviously, the result hasn’t gone our way. We’ve been a little disappointed with the 4-1 result, but we have got a lot of learnings out of the series,” Muzumdar said on Monday after the series ended. He said India’s struggle to take wickets in the Powerplay and their batting finishes in the first two matches were key concerns. India lost the third game by nine wickets, though they had posted a competitive 192 for four. Muzumdar said those issues were addressed later in the series.“I think initially, in the powerplay (overs), we weren’t able to pick up wickets, that was one area of concern for us and also the finishing with the bat, but we addressed those things in the last three games,” Mumbaikar said. It must also be said that, with an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup, India chose to experiment a fair bit, even resting vice-captain and superstar opener Smriti Mandhana in the last two matches, while giving Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat Giants youngster Anushka Sharma a chance to play three matches, in which she made 72 runs at 24.00 in her debut series.
After making her Test and ODI debuts in the past one year, Punjab and Gujarat Giants pacer Kashvee Gautam made her T20I debut too, but failed to impress, conceding 87 for one in eight overs across three matches – her average being 87.00, economy rate 8.87.A major reason India surrendered meekly to the Proteas was also due to the scintillating form of South African captain Laura Wolvaardt. Looking unstoppable, Wolvaardt scored 330 runs in five matches with the average of 82.50, and at a strike rate of 168.36, in a tally which included three half-centuries and a century.
Her sequence of scores in the series, where she finished as the top run-getter on either side by far, was 51, 54, 115, 18 & 92 not out. Praising the South African captain, Muzumdar said “I think credit to South Africa and especially to Laura Wolvaardt for the way she batted. She batted beautifully in this series.”Counting the positives, Muzumdar pointed out to India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s fine form – the 37-year-old batter was the top run-getter for India with 169 runs in five matches at 42.25, with one half-century.
He was also pleased with ‘keeper-bat Richa Ghosh rediscovering her touch in the last two matches (she made 34 not out off 18 balls, and 25 not out off 15 balls after making scores of 5,3 & 18 not out in the first three matches, and seasoned allrounder Deepti Sharma, who initially struggled in the series, coming up with match-winning performance in the fourth T20I at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, where she chipped in with a 36 not out off 26 balls, before taking five for 19 in four overs with her off-spin.
“I think to start with, Harman’s form has been fantastic. She’s batting well-her work ethics, as I’ve said before as well, has been spot-on. Richa coming good in the last couple of games is a big positive for us. Deepti coming back into form in the fourth game.. yeah, I think a lot of positives, a lot of learnings from this series and also the camp prior to this series have been a lot of hard work for the girls. So I guess we’ve learned a lot in this month of April.
I know the result hasn’t gone our way but I’m sure a lot of learnings and a lot of takeaways for us from this series,” the India women’s cricket team coach concluded.
