After a poor Women’s T20 World Cup campaign that concluded in a group-stage exit, India head coach Amol Muzumdar acknowledged that the team will need to reconsider its strategy in the shortest format. He claimed that Harmanpreet Kaur and company performed below expectations in all three areas during the competition.
India was eliminated from the league stage for the second time in a row on Sunday after failing to defend 170 against six-time winners Australia. India needed a victory to advance to the semifinals.
“We really have to rethink our strategy or our T20 game. We really need to put our heads around what combination we are going to play,” PTI quoted Muzumdar telling reporters after the loss.
While India easily defeated Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Netherlands, losses to Australia and South Africa, revealed a number of flaws.
“If I have to pinpoint on certain things in the entire tournament, I think we really need to think about our bowling and our fielding. We also need to be a little aggressive with the bat, and we could have maybe 15-20 runs as cushion (against Australia),” the coach said.
Although Muzumdar acknowledged that Australia was the superior team that day, he thought India’s score was competitive.
“I thought it was a good score, a par score on this pitch. We even got the momentum towards the end of that innings, and I think we carried it on the field as well. It’s just that I think at the end of the day, Australia were a better side than us.”
In actuality, India’s batting performance was inconsistent throughout the competition. The middle order frequently failed to build on strong starts, losing wickets in large numbers and letting the opposition regain control despite the top order’s consistent efforts.
When asked if India might have raised the stakes in the powerplay against Australia, where they were only able to score 43/0, Muzumdar replied, “Yes, we could have had. I mean, every time you lose a game, you would want 10-15 runs more in the pocket, but I guess that wasn’t the case. Of course, the powerplay didn’t really go our way. It could have gone maybe 10-15 runs more at that time. Maybe that could have been the difference.”
“But having said that, we hadn’t lost any wicket then, so we were in total control of things. But as I said, I think Australia chased it down really well. They were also three wickets down (at the halfway mark), mind you,” he added.
India’s campaign was further hampered by their failure to settle on a pace-bowling combination. Throughout the five group matches, the squad employed a variety of seam bowling combinations. Renuka Singh and Arundhati Reddy each played two games, while Nandani Sharma and Kranti Gaud each played three. But with a somewhat inexperienced attack, the coach advised patience.
“If you look at our bowling attack, it’s been very inexperienced as far as international cricket is concerned. So I’ve said this before in the previous press conference that give us 18 months and this attack will be a different one.”
Another major setback, according to Muzumdar, was the absence of off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, who was sidelined halfway through the competition due to an ankle ailment.
“And also, it didn’t help Shreyanka not being there. Shreyanka was probably one of our strikers. So it didn’t help her missing out on half of the tournament. We really missed her in this game today.”
