Indian women’s team would like to keep T20 series against Australia alive
Hosts India will look to make some major improvements in their bowling department in the do-or-die fourth Women’s T20 International against Australia to keep the series alive on Saturday. The Indian team is currently trailing 1-2 in the five-match series and it is necessary for them to win this match to stay alive in the series. This series is very important ahead of the T20 World Cup starting on February 3 in South Africa. When Ramesh Powar was the head coach, he took good care of the bowling department but after his departure, India is without a full-time bowling coach.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted after the third match that her team was missing a bowling coach. And India’s fast bowling attack is not that experienced either, so India has a lot of problems to deal with. Indian bowlers have allowed scores of more than 170 runs in all the three matches. They could not defend the target of 172 runs in the first match, 187 runs in the second match and 172 runs in the third match. Meghna Singh has not been tested well while pace spearhead Renuka Singh needs favorable conditions to shine.
While the bowling has not lived up to expectations, fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh will also have to work hard as the fielders have not been up to the mark in terms of taking catches and in the field. India will have a lot of work to do in the batting department as well. The team’s biggest issue has been to ‘rotate the strike’. Shefali Verma, Richa Ghosh and skipper Harmanpreet are India’s three ‘powerhitters’ while Smriti Mandhana can time the ball well but is not rotating the strike and the skipper pointed this out after the defeat in the last match.
Indian batsmen are playing a lot of ‘dot’ balls in each match. The focus will now be on Jemimah Rodrigues who has managed zero, four and 16 runs in three matches so far. The middle-order batsman was one of the strong players in the Indian team that reached the final of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. They also have to score runs. At the same time, the Australian team would like to win the series with one match to its name. Captain Alyssa Healy has been doing a fine job and the wicket-keeper batsman would like to convert her debut into a big score.
Opener Beth Mooney has been in excellent form and being the highest run-scorer in the series, she would like to continue the momentum. Teams: India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shefali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemima Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarwani, Devika Vaidya , S Meghna, Richa Ghosh and Harleen Deol. AUSTRALIA: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), D’Arcy Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashley Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebo Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt and Annabel Sutherland. The match will start at 7 pm Indian time.
