INTERVIEW
Follow UsSometimes, you hope despite every single precedent being against you. The situation with Harmanpreet Kaur’s Indian team is no different.
When the team crashed out of the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) just a few months ago, the statements and sentiments after the campaign reflected a need for improvement in all aspects of the team for consistent results in the future.
There was hope that, finally, a loss at the World Cup would have jolted the system enough for the Women In Blue to wake up and see what needed to be done for them to take the next step in their development.
Alas, what happened was the same old show we have been seeing on repeat for decades now — shoddy selections, patchy game planning, lousy tactics, and mediocre gameplay against tough opposition.
Every single issue here surfaced recently when India were hammered 0-3 by Australia in an ODI series Down Under. Cricket.com caught up with Kerala and Delhi Capitals coach (in the Women’s Premier League) Biju George to make sense of all these developments.
It was obvious that we had to begin from his own state, Kerala, and talk about Arundhati Reddy, who was dropped for the next series after nearly picking up a fifer and cleaning up the Aussie top four. It was a move that failed to make sense even to the people with the best cricketing IQs. As it turned out, even Reddy had no clue what happened.
“The minute she was dropped, she rang up, and she suddenly was broken,” George told Cricket.com in an exclusive conversation.
“And I think if you look at the stats during the World Cup, she was India's highest number wicket along with Renu at seven wickets. How do you drop her from the T20 side?
“Then you take her to Australia. You give one chance. And she took out the entire Australian top order in one spell, bowling almost non-stop. If not for a drop catch, there would have been five wickets. Now, you have given your best. And you're shocked to see that you're not there in both the T20 and ODI, It is not on.”
In such a situation, what do you do as a coach? What advice do you give to a player who’s heartbroken after bowling one of the best spells by an Indian pacer abroad? George, like the hard trainer he is, advised Reddy to see the silver lining in all the grey clouds.
“I said to her, you take it as a blessing from God that he gave you a much-needed break before the WPL. Go get refreshed,” George told Reddy.
“You are playing so much cricket. Take care of your body. And work out any niggles which might happen through the through. Make sure you are fit and strong for the WPL and win it. That's what I told her.”
George also mentioned how it wasn’t just Reddy whose axing from the team raised concerns about the mentality of the selectors. Shafali Verma being dropped was also uncalled for, considering the high ceiling of her talent. As if to prove him right, Shafali has already struck two centuries and two fifties in the Senior Women’s ODI Trophy (SWODI) at an average of 75.28 and striking at 152.3. Her 197 on December 23 against Bengal again showed that she's a level above others in domestic cricket.
“Shafali had a lean season,” the Delhi Capitals fielding coach said.
“But Shafali is a match-winner. If you look at the World Cup, it is not such a bad World Cup compared to many of the players who are still in the team, including the big names. And Shafali's post being dropped, leading up to this West Indies match, has scored a century (two now), 2 50s, and a 40 as far as I know.
“This is not a tour where we are going out when we have a visa problem or a ticket problem. You can actually add these two names (Reddy and Shafali) there. And let the coach and the captain make the choice.”
However, things are even more complicated and inexplicable when you consider how Shikha Pandey has continuously been out of the side despite putting up superb performances in the franchise cricket for almost every team she plays for. With the Indian bowlers struggling massively against Australia in the ODI series (except Reddy, of course), her experience would have proved extremely crucial in pulling India through crunch situations. But alas, only if anyone knew what was going on there!
“She [Shikha] has got another two good years of very good cricket left, you know. When she went up to WCPL, if you ask the KKR backroom staff and all, they were praising her, including the oppostion players. Not just India. Shikha also went into WBBL. She turned out to do so well that she was in the team of the tournament. And she brings a lot to the table. She is one of the safest catchers.
“And she is always the second captain you need in the team, always a good thinker of the game. Non-controversial. And she can bat a lot and certainly contribute to the bat. I don't know. Maybe that's, I don't know what I know. I have no idea what Indians are facing. I don't know anybody in the Indian circuit now. But India missed a trick by not taking her to the World Cup there. And who knows? She may still make a comeback.”
Such inconsistencies in selection haven't made it easy for players to come back after being dropped and perform. Moreover, it raises some serious questions about India’s intent to develop the immense talent at its disposal, which is currently a victim of systemic mismanagement.
“Consistency will never going to come into Indian women's cricket. I am so happy with the way BCCI is running the men's cricket. But BCCI needs to put a strong, firm stop on the selection goof-ups happening [in women's cricket],” George said firmly.
“For instance, you don't drop a player like Shafali. Dropping Shafali is equivalent to dropping a Rishabh Pant or a Virender Sehwag. Because both these players are impact players. They won't turn up and give you a 50-60 every match. But when they turn up, they'll give you a big innings and win the matches. You can't drop them.
“Because in any match, the next innings might probably be the most brilliant innings they have ever played, and they will win the match for India.”
The rot in the system is so deep that the list of problems begins at the selection table and travels deep down in the team's backroom, which has failed to provide the tactical nous required on the field. India’s perennially changing batting order is a case in point. This is exactly what George pointed his finger at while talking about the tour Down Under.
“India lost the match [Australia ODI series] in the back room. It's planning as far as I’m concerned, especially the batting order,” George remarked.
“If you look at that, Jemimah was doing extremely well in the WBBL. She was never allowed to bat at number three and was shunted up and down, which probably cost her some more. Jemimah, as you all know, is a very busy player. She never gets bogged down. She keeps rotating the side. Even in the last match, if you look at it, when Smriti was getting a century, there were a lot of times when she was stranded and batting with Harleen.
“No offense to Harleen. She's a very good player. But I don't think that's the position she should be in. And what proves my point right is when Jemimah turned up against West Indies batting number three, the whole dynamics of the team changed. Had she not been at #3, probably instead of the runs we scored, we'd be 40-50 runs short.”
While the side's batting order was constantly a nagging sore point, the batters' intent frustrated fans and experts alike as they stood rooted on the crease and let the Australian bowlers execute their plan to the T. India lacked the mentality needed to beat a champion side.
“When we play a team against a team like Australia, we have to be up in their face aggressively,” George said.
“The only way to beat them down is to tell them, ‘okay, bring on, let's see what you got’. We got better, we got better guns than them. That's all. You can't do that. You can't go to Australia in their backyard and be like, let's see what we can do, we will try our best. That sort of thing doesn't work. You have to go there thinking you're the champion and will pull them down.”
Amidst all these batting and bowling-related issues, it’s easy to forget how the fitness and fielding aspects of the game have consistently let India down over the years. Things haven’t changed much despite coach Amol Muzumdar’s repeated insistence that fielding and fitness are the two key tenets of his coaching philosophy.
George, who has been India’s, Kerala’s, and Delhi Capitals’ fielding coach, immediately connects the two and identifies fitness issues as the main reason India is falling behind.
“My experience with fielding tells me one thing - fielding can be correlated to the level of fitness. I don't know how many players are fit in this,” George explained.
“You can have your yo-yo done, all stuff done, but are they helping? And how many people are carrying niggles? The history of injuries and niggles taking out key players has been the concurrent theme over the past three or four years. From a Yastika Bhatia to a Pooja Vastraka to a [Asha] Shobana, all this says that something is wrong, which must be addressed very early.
“And if you're fit enough, you're agile enough, then the second question is, are you in the right position? If somebody doesn't have that good a throw and is not comfortable catching in the deep, they probably should not be fielding in deep. So these are the questions that need to be answered.”
The fielding problems, both in tactics and in execution, troubled India immensely in the T20 World Cup. Some absolute sitters being dropped disadvantaged them massively in the competition. George was adamant about not having such fielders in the team.
“The absolute sitters were dropped by some couple of fielders who were notoriously bad fielders, who should never deserve a place in the team,” he asserted.
George also believes the players have not followed the precedent set by stalwarts like Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj.
“I remember the time I was with them, and I still have huge respect for Mithali and Jhulan. The level of cricket they have played and the legends they have. They used to come and do the hard yards,” George recalled.
“I still remember Mithali. Even though she had a dodgy knee at that time, she used to come and do her piece of diving, sliding everything. And these two were one of the most efficient catchers I've ever seen. I have hardly seen them drop catches. The youngsters should see. In many ways, we tend to forget history.”
All those players of yesteryear who were legends, be it men's or women's cricket, there are many things to learn from and be inspired by them. I don't know of any cricketer who has rung up Jhulan asking, ‘what is wrong with my bowling? Have you seen my bowling?’”
At this point, one can only hope that the players will follow the same path these legends showed, but for that, the players themselves need to take the initiative.
