Women’s World Cup: India are on a four-match winning streak and can only get better

Wins come in all shapes and sizes. And the Indian team at the Women’s World Cup is experiencing all the flavours of winning.

First, there was the unexpected triumph… bringing down favourites and hosts England to kick the tournament off. Then, there was the clinical victory… over a haggard West Indies followed by an emotional win over Pakistan.

And finally, you also have the not-so-satisfactory win. That’s perhaps how you can best describe India’s win by 16 runs over Sri Lanka in Derby on Wednesday.

A word to the wise though. However much you ruminate, the fruit of the process lies in the result. And the result shows only one statistic: four wins out of four. This has been an incredible, fantastic start to a World Cup by Mithali Raj’s group of young warriors. Nothing can and should be taken away from them.

And hence, it can only be a matter of much satisfaction to India’s brilliant captain that even after four wins out of four, her team still has the capability to put on far better displays.

Middling middle overs

For starters, after the first two displays against England and West Indies, India’s batting has seemed to have hit a bit of a slump as showcased by scores of 169/9 against Pakistan and 232/8 against Sri Lanka. No surprises for guessing that this has also coincided with two failures by opener Smriti Mandhana. As the sprightly 20-year-old showed in the first two matches, when on song, her energy and effervescence rub off on the rest of the team. The runs come faster, the vibe is much more positive and it reflects in the scoring rates as well.

In contrast, in the last two matches, India’s batting has been guilty of retreating into a shell. Against a charged-up Pakistani bowling attack, India limped along and their run rate only crossed the three-run mark in the 21st over. Against Sri Lanka, it dipped from a respectable four-and-a-half per over to just over three, before a resurgence at the death.

What seems to be happening then is that if Mandhana has a bad day, India seem to dismiss any and all hope of crossing 250. Against teams like West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and backed by a trio of crafty spinners, this tactic has not cost them.

Harmanpreet up the order?

But against opponents in high-pressure knockouts, will such a strategy be a good one? Look at world champions Australia, for example…they chased down 205 against West Indies within 40 overs and 258 against Sri Lanka within 45. Or England who bounced back from their loss against India with scores of 377/7 and 373/5 against Pakistan and South Africa, respectively. Against such aggressive opponents, India will perhaps need to introduce an element of positivity into their batting.

And one way to do that could be to introduce Harmanpreet Kaur into action early. The 28-year-old has the firebrand big-hitting potential that India have not been able to utilise. Her 22-ball 24 from No 4 against England showed what she was capable of but in the matches thereafter, she’s come in at No 5 or No 6, arguably too low. The team management must think about bringing Kaur into the game early – that will go a long way in eliminating some of the stasis that possesses them in the middle overs.

Thankfully though, the bowling, especially the spin department, has really come good for India so far and saved them from any unnecessary blushes. Even if the pace department hasn’t really set the tournament on fire just yet, India’s Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav and Deepti Sharma have demonstrated that they can do the job themselves which is heartening.

Make it happen

But despite the success, one aspect of Mithali Raj’s captaincy that has stood out is her tendency to wait out things. She is not the “let’s make something happen” sort of skipper, she’s more of the “let’s wait and capitalise on the opponent’s mistakes”. As Ian Bishop pointed out in the commentary box several times during the match against Sri Lanka, her strategies are clear from the outset: squeeze up runs and wait for the inevitable loose shot. And to give credit where it is due, it has worked.

Yet, it almost didn’t against England in that first match where Heather Knight’s team was making a good fist of a tall run chase, before imploding through some comical run-outs. The waiting game is working against weaker opposition but can Mithali try to force a pace a little more when the going is strong? For starters, she can give her wicket-takers more close-in fielders – Poonam Yadav was in the middle of a fantastic spell against Sri Lanka, beating the batters all ways up but not once did her captain decide to give her a slip.

But ultimately, the one aspect where India must most definitely improve, four wins or not, has to be their fielding – in all aspects. Their catching has not been good, at least one catch has been dropped in every match. The ground fielding has been patchy at best... some great run-outs combined with missing out on quite a few.

It has also been all over the place, with misfields for four and players not diving to save incoming shots. In elite international cricket, every run counts. It hasn’t counted against India this tournament yet. But it could and that should be enough to make them pull up their socks.

There’s no need to be too critical though. A lot of things are going well for India and they have every reason to be proud. If not firm favourites, they are certainly among the contenders to lift the 2017 Women’s World Cup already. A little bit of work on the small things and few would bet against Mithali Raj to lift that gleaming trophy.