For the many fans who were drawn to women’s cricket after India’s incredible World Cup semi-final win against Australia powered Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 171, a 0-2 score line in this three-match ICC Women’s Championship series might come as a disappointment.
But this is Australia after all, the Southern Stars, one of the best teams to play this sport. You can beat them once or twice, but to do it consistently, it takes a lot more than one player dominating. It takes a dominant, all-round performance in all departments. And that is where India were let down –maintaining the all-round game.
Captain Meg Lanning acknowledged the same after the match, “India dominated some periods of the game but we managed to get the momentum back.”
Getting the momentum back is best way to describe Australia’s 60-run win in the second match of the ICC Women’s Championships to take an unassailable lead in the three-match series.
Unlike the eight-wicket loss in the first ODI, India were in with a chance more than once on Thursday. But Australia were able to break through the shackles, whole India couldn’t do the same on the half chances they got.
For instance, India put a stopper on the runs grabbing the three quick wickets of Lanning, Nicole Bolton and Rachel Haynes within five overs, going from 130/1 to 144/4.
But then came the brisk 96-run partnership between Ellyse Perry (70 off 70) and Beth Mooney (56 off 40) that virtually took the match away with a target as big as 287. Even before the second innings began, India were faced with their highest-ever successful run chase.
The other half-chance was Smriti Mandhana’s early onslaught in the face of good bowling. It provided some early momentum, but it looked like half of it was undone by Punam Raut’s sluggish start. At one point, the 50-run partnership had a contribution of only six from the Mumbai opener.
She made a total of 27 off 61, and while that had something to do with Megan Schutt’s stunning spell of 5-3-8-0 as well, this was a dreadful start to an already massive chase. Very few will be surprised if Raut makes way for fellow Mumbai player Jemimah Rodrigues in the last ODI.
Bowling, fielding errors
But even before the batting, India’s below-par blowing and fielding effort had done heavy damage. After Raj chose to bowl first – a decision that Lanning was happy about – Indian bowlers failed to put up a strong performance.
While they maintained a good line in the Powerplay, there was at least one loose, boundary ball offered in almost every over and the Aussies made no mistake pouncing on it. Only two overs out of the first 10 had no boundaries as the bowlers kept giving freebies – a full toss here, a short ball there, and so on.
The best indication of this is perhaps is Bolton’s scoring rate: She hit 12 boundaries in her innings of 100 not out in the last match. On Thursday, she had 10 boundaries when she reached her 50.
After the match, Raj admitted that the bowlers erred in their line, “I think there was a bit of movement in the first few overs but the bowlers didn’t bowl lines.” In an off-side heavy field, they bowled largely short, making it easy to attack the leg side, a chink that Bolton, Perry and Mooney exploited.
To top it all, there were a number of dropped catches and misfields. Bolton was dropped three times, twice in the seventh over – a tough chance by Raj at cover and then a mistimed loft by Mandhana at mid-off. She was on 18 runs then, she went on to make 84 and win her second straight Player of the Match award. Perry was dropped on 37 when Bisht missed a return catch, and she scored 70.
To make matters worse, umpiring howlers also cost India. While Bolton’s LBW was contentious, it was evened out with Lanning survived a good LBW shout in the 20th over. Twenty overs later, Mooney was let off on what looked a sure caught behind.
Indian batters need to step up
In the chase, the Indian top order could not click together once again. The dismissals were a classic case of scoreboard pressure – trying to go for the big one and not getting enough on it. Mandhana (67 off 53) tried to slog a full toss but got a top-edge, Raut (27 off 61) lofted it straight to the fielder, Raj (15 off 14) – the missing anchor from last match – misread Perry’s short, slower ball, Harmanpreet (17 off 26) attempted a risky slog-sweep, Veda Krishnamurthy (2 off 5) was stumped trying to come down and attack.
The lower-middle order was a positive from the last match, but a tough chase is too much of an ask from your No 7 and down. Another area with room for improvement is the running between the wickets, especially in the Powerplay.
These are top-calibre players who are capable of doing very well under pressure, and a collective collapse in the two games is something India will look to rectify as soon as possible.
To sum it up, one-dimensional bowling, fielding errors and some poor batter decisions cost India the match. In other words, India will need to step up in all departments of the game ahead of the third ODI, which is not a dead rubber given the Championship points on offer.
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