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Follow UsBatting depth has never been a problem for the Indian women's side in the past few years. They have packed their side with quality all-rounders, and in Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, and now Arundhati Reddy, they have dynamic players who can be trusted to deliver in a variety of roles down the order.
However, the problem has been finishing the game under pressure and maximising the starts given by the top order. Remember the 2022 Commonwealth Games Gold medal match against Australia? Or the 2023 T20 World Cup semi-final against the same opposition? Both these games were lost because India failed to complete the chase even if they were ahead for a significant time.
So, how do we plug that problem?
Richa Ghosh is clearly the chosen one for the finishing role. She can hit sixes, bat steadily, and build an innings; above all, she has that winning temperament. However, she’s still quite young (20 years), and it won’t be fair to put such considerable responsibilities on her.
That’s where Jemimah Rodrigues made her entry and made things easy for Amol Muzumdar and Harmanpreet Kaur by batting at number five. She was slotted to bat at number five and made it her own by striking at 152.2 with a highest of 53* in the three innings she has batted there. On July 23 against Nepal, she came in at number four and finished India’s innings on a high with a 28* off just 15 deliveries.
The sample size may be small for Jemimah, the finisher, but she has done her job to near perfection. With Harmanpreet Kaur batting at four, her at five, and Richa coming at six, India have an enviable middle order. At seven, eight, and nine, a full-strength Indian eleven might feature Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, and Shreyanka Patil, respectively. This makes it a powerful top nine, with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma opening the innings.
Only one gaping hole remains in this entire batting order, which is yet to be adequately filled after Rodrigues vacated that position. It’s the number three spot, currently occupied by Dayalan Hemalatha, who didn’t help her case by making a scratchy 47 off 42 deliveries against Nepal after scoring just two 30-plus scores at that position in the last seven innings.
ALSO READ: Is it time to pull the plug on the Hemalatha experiment?
By pushing Jemimah to bat at number five, Muzumdar and Kaur ideally would have wanted to put a spin hitter at number three, considering the upcoming T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later this year. The Hemalatha experiment at number three was done in that lieu and is currently not yielding the desired results.
India tried Sajana at number three against Nepal, but the all-rounder from Kerala looked to muscle more than time the ball and departed after a lacklustre 10 off 12 deliveries. She had shown her spin-hitting abilities in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), but she has scored only 30 runs in the 31 balls she has faced in T20Is in India colours.
This failure at the number three position has consistently sucked the momentum given by Verma and Mandhana in the powerplay. That’s why in the 13 T20I innings in 2024, India’s run rate has dropped from 8.4 in the first six overs to just 7.5 in the 7-15 overs phase. Also, because Hemalatha is averaging 21.6 balls/dismissal in this period without adding a match-winning impact, it reduces the number of balls Richa faces in the game, who has been one of India’s best powers hitters.
These issues are further compounded by the fact that the Indian management has allowed this Hemalatha experiment to run unhindered. They don’t have any significant international fixtures to sort that problem before the T20 World Cup. There is the India A tour of Australia, and potentially Kiran Navgire can be a wildcard pick to bat at number three for India as she is a brilliant spin hitter.
However, that’s a big IF as of now, and with Yastika Bhatia injured and S Meghana out of favour from the selectors, India not only have a dearth of time, but also of viable alternatives at number three.
It’s all pointing towards the fact that a big can of worms might just open at the crucial number three spot for the head coach Amol Muzumdar and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur as the T20 World Cup approaches. As of now, the Asia Cup success has kept that issue under covers.
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