GUWAHATI: Eleven defeats against England became 12. Four losses on the trot got extended to five. Captains change, new players come in, but nothing seems to work for India women in T20Is.Monday was another day when the team faced the same old problem in batting. While 160 was a gettable target, at no stage did Smriti Mandhana & Co look like achieving it. Wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals as England posted a 41-run win to go one-nil up in the three-match series.
“I think in ODIs and in T20s, two wickets should not fall in a span of three or four balls,” said captain Mandhana after the match. “We lost the top three or four in a short period. That makes the batting order very thin. We have to work on it.”
Losing debutant Harleen Deol for eight in the third over started the slide. Twenty-one for no loss became 23/3 after Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues were dismissed by consecutive deliveries off left-arm spinner Linsey Smith.
Mithali Raj, who was expected to stabilise the ship, threw away her wicket in the ninth over. She went for a big hit — which only went as far as cover — and fell for an 11-ball seven. India were 41/4. It soon became 46/5 in the 10th over and the match was as good as over.
“It’s important as a batting unit to take responsibility and chase this kind of total. Our top four have been playing for a long time. Mithali, Jemi and myself have to take more responsibility and take the team through. We have to give a bit of a cushion to the youngsters,” said Mandhana.
The middle-order was exposed against a quality bowling line-up. Veda Krishnamurthy lasted only 25 balls. If not for all-rounder Deepti Sharma and Shikha Pandey, India would have got out for a lesser total. The duo added 47 runs for the unbroken seventh-wicket partnership.
The team has to see if these are just signs of inexperience or symptoms of a deeper problem before the T20 World Cup next year.
“If you look at the number of matches, they have played only 6-8. It’s not the time to experiment. We have to stick with the same batting order, giving them more time. You need enough chances to prove yourself. I don’t think I started scoring from my second or third match,” said Mandhana.
Little went right for India after Mandhana elected to bowl. Only the experienced bowlers — pacer Shikha and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav — were able to contain.
An opening stand of 89 between Daniel Wyatt (35) and Tammy Beaumont (65) gave England a solid foundation for a good total. Skipper Heather Knight set the stage on fire with a 20-ball 40 including five consecutive fours off Arundhati Reddy’s final over. Going into the second T20I, Mandhana and coach WV Raman will have a lot to work on to avoid another series defeat in the shortest format.
Brief scores: England women 160/4 in 20 overs (Beaumont 62, Knight 40; Radha 2/33) beat India women 119/6 in 20 overs (Brunt 2/21, Smith 2/22).