New Zealand vs India ODIs: Talking points ahead of Mithali Raj and Co’s crucial World Cup tune-up

The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand is less than a month away and with that in mind, India begin a huge One-Day International series in scenic Queenstown. They are not scheduled to play any match at this venue during the World Cup and all the matches are now day games while the day-night matches in World Cup will offer a different challenge that they need to prepare separately for. But, even then, the team could not have asked for a better test to find out where they stand before the marquee tournament.

If they are to go one step better than they did in 2017, here are some areas that Mithali Raj and Co will look to get right in the five-match series against Sophie Devine-led White Ferns:

Shafali Verma’s form and opening partnerships

When Shafali Verma was kept out of India’s return to international cricket after nearly a year’s break for the ODIs against South Africa in 2021, it seemed a bizarre move to not back the youngster in white-ball formats despite her age. Indian women don’t play enough cricket as such, so to not test out a potential match-winner in an ODI series one year away from the World Cup seemed rather incomprehensible. Since then, the Indian youngster has made her debut across three formats in international cricket and played in the The Hundred as well as Women’s Big Bash League. And now, ahead of the World Cup, she is at bit of a crossroads with her batting. The swashbuckling T20I batter who climbed to the top of the world rankings is starting to play a bit more patiently, trying to take her time and grow into the innings. But a below par WBBL, where she was moved up and down the order, and the first T20I have both showed that she needs a good innings soon to get her confidence back. A player who depends as much on hand-eye coordination as she does, the feel of batting is everything and one good innings could potentially change all that.

In general, the opening partnership is something that is crucial for most sides in the game but for India, it becomes even more important because of their dependence on Smriti Mandhana. India’s opening partnership since 2019 is worth nearly 12 points more in matches they win than the overall number. When the openers do well, India tend to win more. The cricketer of the year for 2021 will be absent at least for the first ODI but when she returns, India will hope Mandhana and Shafali can provide consistently good starts to set up a solid base. It was an area that Mithali Raj had identified as essential to post 250-plus scores consistently.

Middle order strike rate

There is perhaps good reason for Mithali Raj to think that too much importance is given to strike rates in cricket by those who follow the game. The fact of the matter is that is a base metric that doesn’t take into account things like match situations, end result, pitch conditions across venues and so on. The data analysis available for consumption is not that advanced and she is right in saying that playing according to situations is more important.

“It is always spoken when it comes to batting or putting up big totals. I just wanted to know if you all only follow the strike-rates of the India players or the players from other teams as well,” Mithali had asked before the team’s departure for New Zealand, when asked about dot-ball percentages and so on and whether she was happy with how the team looked in that regard.

“Because in the Australia series itself, the game that Australia won, the decider, Beth Mooney scored her 50 in 80-odd balls, but she went on to play a match-winning innings for her team. So for me, cricket is a game played on situations on the ground.”

She added: “Yes, it is important that we keep in mind that we need to have a healthy strike-rate. But at the end of the day it is about how a batting unit revolves and the depth of the batting unit in our team. To score more 250-270 we need to have a healthy strike-rate but having said that, we are not only entirely focussed on strike-rate. It’s important to play an innings to win and build partnerships, and that happened not because of strike-rate but because you apply yourself according to the situation on the ground. Sometimes you have to play fast, but sometimes you have to play to get your team out of the hole too.”

But while the data itself might be rudimentary, the gap between the top two teams in this regard is something that cannot be ignored. Australia and England are two of the best teams in the world at the moment and their strike rates for Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the batting order is well ahead of the rest of the group that is bunched together around the early 60s. So, while it may be true that not everyone does great in this area, the chances of success are going to be higher when the numbers get pushed up.

Being responsible, playing hard: Mithali Raj, Ramesh Powar and the winning strike-rate

Pace support, spin revival and fielding

These three areas have been a concern for a while now. The 2-1 ODI series win the last time India toured New Zealand in 2018 was actually built on the brilliance of spinners. Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht were the two top wicket-takers across the teams in that three-match series as part of the ICC World Championship cycle. They picked up 11 wickets between them in the series, with Deepti Sharma too not far behind. At that point in Indian cricket, it didn’t matter where in the world the team was playing, the spinners invariably delivered.

Things have not been the same in the past year. Even in the home series against South Africa, the spinners struggled and the numbers haven’t significantly improved in England and Australia. There have been some signs recently that Poonam Yadav might be getting her rhythm back and when a team bowls a volume of overs as high as India do with spinners, the overall numbers can be a bit skewed. But, even then, India’s weapon has always been their spin and they need to find their collective groove in conditions more suited to the pacers, even if that means offering more control.

Speaking of the pacers, the quest for supporting the ever-consistent Jhulan Goswami has given India a few interesting options in New Zealand. Not opting to go with Shikha Pandey is a debatable decision but that should, by no means, take the attention away from Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Singh Thakur and Meghna Singh (both not available for the first ODI). They are exciting in their own right, offer a bit of the unknown for opponents to deal with and, in these conditions, they can make an impact. These five ODIs will be invaluable inexperience for every pacer who gets to bowl in tandem with Goswami.

As for fielding, the man who was with the team during the tour of Australia, Subhadeep Ghosh, is the one present in New Zealand as well, as confirmed by Taniya Bhatia.

“Not just the coach, the players have put in a lot of efforts, even if the session is for two hours, they make sure they are taking catches before and after as well. There is a lot of work going,” the keeper-bat said on the eve of the ODI.

It is an area that has been under focus for as long as one can remember in recent times. There have been some moments of brilliance, there is a gun outfielder in the lineup now in the form of Sneh Rana... even Shafali Verma seems to be improving in that regard. But the consistency is definitely not there with the best teams right now. The Australia series showcased that once again.

At this point in time, India cannot simply afford to lose matches based on fielding errors. As New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr said in the New Zealand press conference, it is a controllable that they pride themselves on being good at. India need to get there quickly.

Squads:
India: Mithali Raj (C), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Simran Dil Bahadur.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (C), Amy Satterthwaite (vc), Suzie Bates, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Melie Kerr, Frankie Mackay, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.

Match starts at 3:30 AM IST and will be streamed live on Amazon Prime Video.

All stats courtesy: ESPNCricinfo Statsguru