Published By: Rohit Chatterjee

ICC Women’s T20I World Cup: Is India Relying Too Much on the Bowling Unit?

Consistency from Indian batters is the need of the hour if the nation wishes to lift the trophy like the Men in Blue

India's women's team won the do-or-die match against Pakistan in the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Having lost the first game against New Zealand, a win was crucial against Pakistan for India's survival in the tournament. That's not all, as it is imperative that India wins its remaining two games against Sri Lanka and Australia because the top two teams with maximum points will qualify for the semi-final stage.

Speaking about India, the team has slightly turned around its performance against Pakistan after the dismal defeat at the hands of New Zealand. However, it has become that India is relying too much on its bowlers, whereas batters are unable to fire all their guns, which could prove to be fatal in the remainder of the competition.

No show against the Kiwis

India lost the first match against New Zealand by 58 runs, which makes the target of 160 a steep one. However, given the change of pace in T20, 160 is a decent target that New Zealand managed to post. In short, India's bowling unit did a brilliant job of halting New Zealand at 160 in 20 overs at a run rate of eight per over.

However, in response, the Indian batters faltered poorly, losing all their wickets at 102 runs in 19 overs. While not much is expected from the lower order, the top order and middle order, including significant names such as Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Deepti Sharma, were a no-show.

Together, these five named players contributed 69 runs and had no answer against the best of New Zealand's bowling lineup. The performance even transcended to the India vs. Pakistan match.

Poor chase, poor run-rate

Bowling first, it was once again the Indian bowlers who really shone against the weak Pakistani batting line-up. Renuka Singh, Deepti Sharma, and Asha Sobhana picked one wicket each, whereas Arundhati Reddy grabbed three wickets. ShreyankaPatil also grabbed the limelight with two wickets and an overall bowling brilliance that restricted Pakistan to a meagre score of 105 runs.

While India won the game, the batters struggled to find runs. For example, in the powerplay, the opening duo of Mandhana and Shafali merely managed 20 runs without hitting a single boundary. Fortunately, one wide ball went for the ropes and took the tally to 25 runs, or else 20 would've been India's number in the powerplay.

Not to forget, Mandhana, who is often hailed as India's newest star, went home for seven runs, where Shafali Verma put 32 runs on board in 35 balls at a strike rate of 92.42. Rodrigues added another 23 in 28 balls at a strike rate of 82.14, whereas captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored 29 runs in 24 deliveries at a strike rate of 120.83.

And while many may argue that given the target was low, stability was required, one must not forget that India needs to improve its net run rate, but the team needed 18.5 overs to overcome the target of 105 runs.

In short, while some of the batters did stay on the crease for jotted runs, unlike against New Zealand, it was evident that scoring runs were not easy for the line-up.

By now, wise opponents must have identified that while Indian bowlers are putting on a show, the batters aren't playing the role of an adequate wingman, which could prove fatal in the remaining two must-win group-stage games.

India next takes on Sri Lanka on October 9.