A familiar dread in India’s T20 World Cup exit
It would have begun with a sinking feeling that eventually morphed into a disturbing sense of déjà vu.
For those who support India, the halfway mark of their game against Australia in the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was probably filled with dread. Once again, it was a crunch game against the seemingly invincible defending champions. And once again, the task was to hunt down a daunting total.
India had been there before – thrice in the past four years, in fact. In the 2020 T20 World Cup final, in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games final in 2022, and in the semi-final of last year’s T20 World Cup. On each of these occasions, the Women in Blue came up short in the chase.
Although the two teams weren’t clashing in the knockout stage at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday, it was very much a do-or-die game for India. They suffered a tame defeat to New Zealand in their tournament opener and had been playing catch-up ever since. A win against the Aussies in their last group game was vital for advancing to the semi-finals.
Would they get over the line this time? Would they be able to free themselves from the psychological grip Australia had on them? It would have taken a brave person to bet on that happening, for it was hardly a surprise that India couldn’t keep it together yet again.
Undercooked
There were some bold claims from the Indian camp heading into the tournament. Harmanpreet Kaur, in her eighth year as India’s captain, proclaimed this was the best side she had led at a T20 World Cup, while head coach Amol Muzumdar said his team was “absolutely prepared for anything and everything.”
India had won 12 of the 19 T20Is they competed in since Muzumdar took over last December. His stint began with back-to-back series losses at home to England and Australia, followed by an impressive clean sweep in Bangladesh, a drawn home series against South Africa, and a runners-up finish in the Asia Cup.
Perhaps what proved to be India’s undoing was the fact that they didn’t compete in a single international match after that Asia Cup final loss to Sri Lanka in July. Unlike their big rivals – Australia, England, West Indies, New Zealand, and South Africa – who were immersed in bilateral action and preparatory camps in the UAE, India’s decision to prepare internally and only play intra-squad games seems like a spectacular error in hindsight.
Eventually, the incoherence remained palpable throughout India’s campaign. For the longest time, a key concern for them has been batting depth. However, they stuck to just six proper batters in their lineup for each of their four games. Another curveball was captain Kaur becoming the sixth different batter to walk out at No. 3 during Muzumdar’s short stint so far. With Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh struggling for form, India’s frailties with the bat were exposed in their two losses.
“I think in terms of preparation, we had everything going in that camp in Bangalore,” said Muzumdar.
“We had two camps; one was dedicated towards fitness and fielding and the other one was just the skill camp. Because we had about eight weeks to prepare. So, I couldn’t have asked for more from my support staff and I couldn’t have asked for more from the players. They gave their best in those camps. Preparation about this World Cup was thorough. We came into this World Cup really upbeat. Yeah, it is a little disappointing to lose the two games in the league stages.”
Lack of belief
At the end of the day, what would disappoint India the most is that, yet again, they couldn’t handle pressure when it mattered most. This was the third successive instance of them losing an important match against Australia by a single-digit margin. It happened at CWG 2022 when they lost the final by nine runs, and in last year’s T20 World Cup semi-final when went down by five runs. They had the resources and experience, but you can only get so far without conviction.
One wonders whether, during the mid-innings break against Australia on Sunday, India’s players felt that familiar dread their supporters did. Their meek surrender in the end certainly suggested they did.
Going forward, as their quest for a first-ever ICC title continues, getting over this lack of belief will perhaps be the biggest challenge.
