India had to create a team for the T20 World Cup in South Africa next year, and if they had to win the tournament, they needed to keep to a clear plan and a clear mindset. But these selections have been far from that.
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In August 2022, the Indian team finished second in the Commonwealth Games. In the final, they were defeated by the perennially dominant Australia. They’d be condemning themselves for failing to win another crown that was within their grasp. But what’s gone is gone forever. Now is the time to start preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2023. The form of India’s senior players was one of the tournament’s highlights. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and Jemimah Rodrigues all batted quite well. While Renuka was the team’s standout bowler. She demonstrated that she has the capacity to carry the team’s seam attack in the future.
After their impressive show in CWG 2022, they lost the T20I series against England 2-1 and after that went on to win the Asia Cup 2022. In these two series, the likes of Hemalatha and Kiran Navgire were tried but the team did not get the expected results from them. While Hemalatha got enough opportunities to show her potential the same could not be said about Navgire. Come the home series against Australia in December 2022 both these players were dropped from the side. Before we move it is important that we take a look at the 2023 world cup squad of India.
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India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2023: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk) Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, *Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey
Reserves: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh
In the series against England, the Indian squad had the opportunity to put their players to the test. Due to Jemimah Rodrigues’ injury, one of Hemalatha or S Meghana would have to play all three games. Kiran was also set to make her debut. The management began the series with what appeared to be a good mix, attempting to play to their strengths. They had only one specialist pacer, Renuka, and three spinners, Deepti, Rana, and Radha Yadav. Pooja Vastrakar, an all-rounder, was the second pacer. This meant that India had a pretty long batting lineup as well as six bowling options if Harmanpreet Kaur was included. But as the series moved, they overcomplicated things for themselves as was evident in the 3rd T20I.
In the first game, which England easily won, India got a good start from their openers when batting first, lost momentum in the middle but got things back on track thanks to a cameo by Richa Ghosh, who had been strangely dropped from the CWG team. However, the Indian hitters did not complete their innings as they would have wished. Deepti and Kiran both struggled. But it was to be expected. Deepti spent her time in the Hundred as a substitute for Birmingham Phoenix while Kiran was playing her first international game.
Sophia Dunkley and Danny Wyatt killed the chase in the powerplay as the Indian bowling lacked penetration. In the second game, Radha Yadav’s fielding heroics limited England to a par total, and India easily chased down the target thanks to Mandhana’s magnificent effort, which was well supported by Harmanpreet Kaur. One would have expected India to field the same XI in the third and final T20I, but they dropped Navgire and brought Meghana into the team. Thereby limiting the opportunity given to Navgire in a difficult finisher’s role. This was when Kiran only got to play one inning in two games.
This meant that Hemalatha was demoted to number 5 and Meghana had to take the number 3 slot. Hemalatha struggled to establish her flow after returning to the lineup after a lengthy absence in the first two games. Dropping her to number 5, therefore, made no sense. Despite doing well in the New Zealand series before the World Cup in March 2022, Meghana was not been given a long rope in the XI. The same appeared to be true for the other players. Meghana struggled to put bat to ball in her first game since facing Pakistan in the CWG, and she got out for a 9-ball duck thanks to a superb catch by Wyatt on the deep mid-wicket boundary. That put pressure on Hemalatha, who was also dismissed for a duck.
In the Asia cup, India went in with the idea to give more chances to fringe players but there too some of the calls they took were baffling. In the tournament, Kiran faced the 3rd least number of balls; just 6. While Meghna Singh bowled just 2.3 overs in the tournament. India did win the competion but several questions still were unanswered. They were still looking for the 2nd pacer in the squad, they still did not have a finisher. In the just concluded Australia series, while Meghna still found a place, Kiran was dropped altogether.
Even while Kiran was dropped, Harleen Deol, Anjali and Devika found a place in the squad against Australia. Leg-spinner Devika Vaidya and left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani advanced to the national team by having outstanding domestic seasons. They had decent outings against Australia as well that helped them keep their place for the world cup as well. Shikha Pandey meanwhile was ignored even for the Australia series. But following a dismal home series against Australia with the ball, the selectors were forced to turn on experience and brought in veteran pacer Shikha Pandey. Pandey last appeared in international cricket in a multi-format series against Australia in October 2021. Pandey’s entry meant that there was no room for Meghna Singh who despite being in the playing XI on numverious occasions in 2022 did not even bowl 3 overs in an innings on average.
Over the years, India has been fortunate with numerous world-class spinners. But in 2022 pacers like Renuka, Pooja, and Meghna have risen to prominence, thanks to two back-to-back World Cups in New Zealand and South Africa, as well as the CWG in England. Renuka Singh’s destructive swing bowling grabbed numerous headlines in 2022, especially in the CWG where she was the highest wicket taker. With 22 wickets, she was India’s second best T20I bowler after Deepti Sharma. Her in-swing bowling will be accompanied by another in swing bowler in the form of Shikha Pandey from the other end in the T20 WC. Anjali Sarvani’s became the first ever left arm pacer to play in a T20I for India when she made her debut against Australia and she got some wickets in the series. Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, and Beth Mooney were her first three international wickets. Although she was expensive but showed enough promise that she could bowl in all the phases of the game.
However, the unexpected rise of pacers surpassing spinners is partially owing to India’s lack of consistency in supporting spinners and the individuals’ deteriorating performance. Deepti Sharma, a prominent wicket-taker, has recently been quite expensive. She was not her usual self against Australia Rajeshwari Gayakawad, on the other side, has had few and far between chances. This is due to India’s partiality for Radha Yadav, who has struggled to secure the opportunities that have come her way. Radha has the lowest average of 37.18 among Indian bowlers who bowled at least 10 innings in T20Is this year. Yadav was expensive even in the Asia Cup as well against Australia, despite Rajeswari’s good performance in the Asia cup she played just 2 games against Australia while Yadav played all the five games.
Surprisingly, Sneh Rana, who had a fantastic year with the ball, with 19 wickets and the second best economy of 6.50, did not make the cut. Instead leg-spinner Vaidya was preferred over her who picked 4 wickets against Australia with an eco of 9.00. At one time, it appeared like the Indian side was fortunate to have two World-class off-spinners in the form of Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma, both of whom can bowl at any stage of the game. One of the main reasons India played the gold medal match in CWG 2022 was their performance in the semi-final against England. But while Deepti’s form has detiorated, Rana has mysteriously fallen off the selector’s radar.
As far as finishing duties are concerned, India seems to be heavily reliant on young Richa Ghosh. Not giving enough opporttuniees to someone like Kiran might come back to haunt them if Pooja does not get back to full fitness on time. Even if she recovers on time there is no guarantee that she could do well as a finisher. In the Asia Cup she faced 41 balls but scored just 49 runs. Even in WBBL, playing for Brisbane Heat she faced just 18 balls in the whole tournament. After skipper Harmanpreet, India has Devika Vaidya and Deepti Sharma in the lower order, both of whom are not excellent attackers of the ball. But despite that Deepti has turned herself into a fine finisher as was evident against Australia where she scored runs at a strike rate of 164.10. Shikha Pandey’s recent batting form will be a light of hope for India but expecting her to finish games for India straight away will be too much off an ask.
Final thoughts
India had to create a team for the T20 World Cup in South Africa next year, and if they had to win the tournament, they needed to keep to a clear plan and a clear mindset. But these selections have been far from that. India still might play the knockouts but the signs are ominous that they will fall short again, as they did in the CWG, the 2020 T20 WC final, and the 2018 T20 WC semifinal.
