CHENNAI: When a team is coming back after a long layoff, it isn’t fair to be harsh on their performance in the first series. India women’s team is struggling to find its rhythm. The team lost the rain-marred third ODI against South Africa by five runs to trail 1-2 in the five-match series. Though long break did play its part, there are certain aspects of the game that might still remain a worry for the team.
After putting in to bat at Lucknow, Mithali Raj & Co posted 248 for five their highest total since January, 2019. However, what could be a concern moving forward is their scoring rate in the last 10 overs, which has been low. On Friday, it was below six runs per over. It is also due to the fact they don’t have a power-hitter after Harmanpreet Kaur at No 5.
On Friday, at the end of 46 overs, South Africa needed 28 from 24. They eventually won by a narrow margin by the DLS method after Lizelle Lee’s unbeaten 132. Had the Indian batters accelerated at the death overs, it could have been a different result. At No 6, all-rounder Deepti Sharma has an overall strike rate of 63.43 and the returning wicketkeeper batter Sushma Verma has 60. With the focus now being channelised to the next year’s World Cup, skipper Mithali emphasised that having a settled batter in the last 10 overs is crucial to posting big totals.
“We definitely need to have batters playing the last 10 overs because obviously, the sort of game that a batter has and can use it to the optimum, the lower or tail-ender may not. So it is important. A settled batsman will always be very helpful in those times,” the 38-year-old, who completed 10,000 runs across formats, said after the match. “But yes, we have players like Harman and Deepti and it is just a matter of few innings that they will come good in those 10 overs.”
That they have posted less than 200 and have defended many times is a different story. Unlike this series, spinners have given the team crucial breakthroughs irrespective of the conditions. However, Mithali did acknowledge that on batting tracks, like the one at Ekana Stadium, the team should aim at posting 270-plus totals. “I can’t say what totals we are looking at. But competing with the best, that is Australia and England, we are looking at 270-plus. But this is our third game after a long break,” she elaborated.
“We need to have some game plan but we are also trying to work on the players. Those plans will be important in terms of how we are going to plan our campaign for the World Cup what are the things that we need to work on. It’s going to be a process. We have already started.”Those game plans, that she said, include building partnerships and rotating the strike. The experienced Punam Raut, who top-scored with 77 at No 3, has come under the radar due to poor strike rate.
“In the ODI side, we have a batting order that is experienced. But yes it (dot ball per cent) is something that we work on. It is more to do with the individual players, how they work on and a lot more depends on when the batter walks in. In ODIs, you need to work on your partnerships,” Mithali said.
Brief scores: India 248/5 in 50 ovs (Punam 77) lost to SA 223/4 in 46.3 ovs (Lizelle 132 n.o) by DLS method.