By Anjum Chopra There are certain areas that the Indian women’s team has been working on.Fielding, middle-overs batting, death bowling.No matter what the format, whether one-day cricket or T20 the issues have been the same.An ODI allows teams to return to the game, but in T0’s, there is only a little possibility.
The Indian women begin their tour of England with three-match T20I series, followed by a 3-match ODI series.The victory in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games for India in Birmingham could have been an appropriate prelude to the series.
The silver medal, the victory against the home team England and a few of good performances against Australia have provided a good idea of the path of the team.
Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian captain, was clearly unhappy about the result of the CWG final.
She believed that the team was lacking stroke players to get them through , as well as finishing players in the lower and middle middle order.When one considers the Australian women’s team their endurance and their ability to overcome any difficult situation over and over again — it is an extremely relatable issue.
Australian women throughout time have raised their game to a higher levels.To be able to beat Australia consistently, it requires lots of effort and preparation of time.It’s not going to happen overnight.They are clearly ahead by years, and not just a couple of kilometers.
The Indian selectors have added several faces — both new and old to let the captain and coach to see their choices.Dayalan Hemalatha of Tamil Nadu/Railways has a go and Kiran Navgire too.Both players are not alike in their approaches.One appears to be a grafter while the other is an aggressor.
The last time I observed of Hemalatha was in the ODI series against South Africa women in Lucknow.It was a normal outing with both ball and bat.There was the home season in 2021, where she was noticed more for her off-spin bowling, taking 12 wickets and aggressive 35 not out against Chandigarh.
Another brand new player in the India colors is Kiran Prabhu Navgire.
A player who moved the base of Maharashtra to Nagaland in the 2021 season to pursue more opportunities for playing — she truly had a mark on the field.Batting in the top order of Nagaland she scored the highest with 525 runs in the season.
She also took seven wickets with her off-spin part-time.A player who loves to strike the ball off of the park, she scored 162 in the match against Arunachal Pradesh.
No matter of the strength or weak point in the bowling of the opposition the 162 pounding does make you pay attention.
Kiran was able to bring the spotlight on her once more when she hit the ball she was faced with in the women’s T20 challenge in Pune stadium earlier in the year for an eight that hit 10 rows behind.
With five fours and five sixes she took home an impressive of 69 of 34 balls.However, with cricket being the main equalizer, she did not manage to make the mark in the 13 balls she was faced with in the next game.
Kiran who began her cricket in the late stages has made it into an Indian dressing room in England with huge amount of potential and optimism to her.A talent with special qualities does not necessarily have to follow the same pattern that most have followed.What she does and what she does of these opportunities, time will tell.It may take a while to establish herself in international cricket.That’s why it’s a wise choice to allow her to travel with the team.If the faith placed in her is successful, India could have found a dependable batter.
England is without Heather Knight as she is still recovering from a hip injury.Since Katherine Brunt opting out of the series, Natalie Sciver as captain will be dependent on her and Sophie Ecclestone to lead the relatively new English bowling line-up.
India against England is always a great series to follow.
(Anjum Chopra was an ex-captain of the Indian women’s cricket team.
The opinions presented here are his personal opinions.)
Anjum/bsk
