(Cricket news) The Indian women's team were knocked out of the World Cup group stages after finishing in 5th position. India needed a win against South Africa to make it to the semis but a no ball in the last over by Deepti Sharma was what ultimately cost them the match. The result is very disappointing for the women in blue who would've liked to win the cup after finishing runners up at the last edition in 2017 and also in the 2020 T20 World Cup.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that the Indian women's team were lucky to have played a series in New Zealand right before the World Cup. To play a 5 match series against the hosts in their country was always a massive advantage going into any big tournament, especially the 50 over World Cup. The series ended 4-1 in favor of New Zealand as the last game was the only one which saw the women in blue perform well. The approach of the Indian team could've been questioned after they somewhat treated the series as a warm up instead of going full strength trying to win the matches.
Mithali Raj's side came into the tournament after back to back series losses to South Africa, England and Australia. Jemimah Rodrigues and the experienced Shikha Pandey from the World Cup squad. The performance of the team is definitely not down to those calls as both Rodrigues and Pandey were inconsistent in the past couple of years.
There are a few other calls which coach Ramesh Powar and captain Mithali Raj took which went wrong. India, after going with 6 pure batters and Deepti Sharma at number 7 changed it by getting in all-rounder Sneh Rana by dropping pure batter Yastika Bhatia. Deepti was then asked to bat at number 3 and after that didn't work Mithali Raj was reverted to number 3. The constant change of the batting line-up at the big tournament does more good than bad. Deepti was eventually dropped as India went back to the 6 pure batters combination.
In the last game against South Africa, Deepti Sharma was called back into the side instead of Poonam Yadav as a pure bowler which once again changed the combination of the side. The other big call was regarding Shefali Verma who was considered undroppable just 6 months ago was dropped in the 2nd game. Yastika Bhatia opened with Smriti Mandhana which isn't the spot of her comfort. Verma was then called back while Bhatia kept her place. The constant chopping and changing definitely didn't work in India's favor.
India once again caved under pressure and the fielding was once again a let down. Mithali Raj didn't show her usual consistency with the bat as she managed only two half centuries. The field setting and bowling changes at times didn't work for her. India can take a lot of positives from the World Cup like the performance of Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar. Mithali Raj and Jhulan could hang their ODI boots which would mean that the team gets a new captain who can change around some things.
Also read: Takeaways from Australia's legendary Test series win in Pakistan
