The good, bad and ugly of Team India

One of the best wins even despite not playing the best cricket. Australia skipper Meg Lanning summed up the nail-biting win over India in the T20 World Cup 2023 semi-final perfectly in her post-match comments.

“One of the best wins I’ve been involved in, to fight back after not playing the best cricket in all three facets. We missed our lengths and gave some width. India came hard at us, so we knew this score would’ve been hard to defend. But we pulled through in the crunch moments,” a delighted Lanning declared.

With India needing just 49 from the last 36 balls, six wickets in hand and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in her groove, Australia were well and truly behind the eight ball. But the unflappable side on the back of exceptional fielding and decent bowling managed to close the match.

To have the nerve to pull off all the right moves in the final phase of a high-stakes game even when you are not operating at your best is what has allowed Australia to keep the winning juggernaut rolling for years.

For India, the story was quite different but not the opposite. They came close to a victory, eventually losing by just five runs in a thrilling fashion. All they needed was to land one final blow to bring the mighty Aussies crashing down, but as it so often happens, the clincher never arrived. In all honesty, the stunning challenge wasn’t the result of some outstanding consistent cricket but rather an effort made possible by some individual brilliance.

The good

Australia have lost only three of their 27 completed T20Is since the 2020 World Cup final, two against New Zealand and one came at the hands of India. That mind-boggling statistic is enough to highlight how dominating the Lanning-led side has been. And yet, India are the one side that have consistently come close to posing a challenge to the Australian steamroller.

Australia’s last defeat in the format came in December against India in a Super over. This was also the first and only international defeat for the team from Down Under in 2022. Earlier in the Commonwealth Games final, India gave the Aussies a massive scare before going down by nine runs.

In September 2021, India pulled off their highest-ever run chase in an ODI to break Australia’s world-record 26-match winning streak in their own backyard.

Australia comfortably lead the head-to-heads in ODIs and T20Is against India but with every game, Women in Blue are chipping away at the invincible aura that the all-conquering Australian side has.

The same was the case on Thursday.

At 25 for three, chasing 173, India looked out of the contest, but once the tide turned, it forced the Aussies to produce a special fielding effort to squeeze through to the final. The revival was led by Harmanpreet, who was in hospital hours before the game, and Jemimah Rodrigues, with both batters coming to the crease inside the powerplay.

India scored 59 in the powerplay — the most Australia have conceded in the first six overs since the 2020 T20 World Cup.

In the defeat against England, India played 51 dot balls. The Harmanpreet-Jemimah partnership of 69 runs off just 41 balls consisted of just two dot balls. It was counter-attacking batting of the highest order from two of the best Indian batters.

Unfortunately, both went down in bizarre ways. Jemimah (43 off 24) got caught behind, chasing a rare short ball. Harmanpreet (54 off 34) got run out as her bat got stuck in the pitch. 

The bad

In a crucial game, India went all defensive from the very start. Off-spinner Deepti Sharma bowling a few overs in the powerplay was nothing new but her opting to bowl short and away from the batters clearly send out the wrong signal.

The plan clearly didn’t work as Deepti conceded 25 in her three overs in the powerplay, before Australia amassed 52 for the first wicket, laying down the foundation for a strong total. With no swing on offer, wrecker-in-chief Ranuka Singh was only a pale shadow of her usual self, conceding 41 for no wicket in four overs.

The decision to bring in an extra batter in Yastika Bhatia also left India with only five bowlers, impacting the team balance and forcing the hands of the captain.

See photos: India go down to Australia in T20 World Cup semi-finals 

Even in batting, apart from Harmanpreet and Jemimah, no one stood up and took responsibility. The first three batters (Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Yastika) failed to get into double digits and Richa Ghosh scored her runs at a strike rate of 82 in the death overs.

The ugly

If you are asked to pinpoint where India lost the match, the majority would go with Harmanpreet’s run out which took the momentum away from India but more than this, more than Australians and Ellyse Perry throwing their bodies on the ground to save every run, it was the amateurish fielding from the Indian unit that cost them the game.

The butterfingers allowed Australia to score 172/4. No team has managed to score more than 167 against Australia at the T20 World Cup, so India were always up against it.

Meg Lanning, who smashed 49 not out off 34, was dropped on one by wicket-keeper Ghosh. Shafali Verma dropped Beth Mooney, who scored 54 off 37, on 32 at long-on. When they were not dropping catches, they were fumbling and misfielding. Missing stumping and run-out chances. Like in the 16th over, when Jemimah missed out on a run out due to poor game awareness. Ashleigh Gardner after the mix-up was well short of the striker’s end but unaware of the possible opportunity, Jemimah decided to throw at the bowler’s end.

Apart from the mistakes on the day, there are clearly bigger things that have acted as roadblocks for India. The team has been talking about and working on improving their scoring rates and fielding standards but consistency in both departments is missing.

Indian spinners, their strength, were highly ineffective in the tournament. With a total haul of nine wickets in five matches, spinners failed to cover themselves in glory.

Also, the 2020 final defeat, CWG final defeat and now this semi-final defeat, India have run Australia close at the biggest stages, and despite all the positive takeaways, one wouldn’t mind trading them off for a win.

Pulling your socks up in all departments and acquiring the required mental toughness, have been the takeaways for India for a while from the big tournaments. It very much remains the same for now as well. They have been improving constantly but in reality, are still off the mark.

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