CHENNAI: The women’s T20 World Cup scheduled in Bangladesh is approaching soon. Every move made by the ten teams will be under scanner till the tournament. Traditionally, Bangladesh has been a heaven for the spinners. Take for example the Women’s Asia Cup in 2022. In the tournament, which lasted for 24 fixtures, the top 11 wicket-takers were tweakers before India’s Renuka Singh Thakur made it to the list.
Whenever the teams visited Bangladesh, the question was, how early would bowling captain introduce the spinners? India have followed the pattern in the past so much so that when they toured Bangladesh in 2023, in one of the T20Is, Harmanpreet Kaur employed 19 overs of spin, including seven overs of part-time spin (Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma).
Times have changed significantly since that series. At least from an Indian point of view, Pooja Vastrakar has made a comeback as an opening bowler in the shortest format. In the latest tour of Bangladesh in May 2024, Vastrakar was not the highest wicket-taker for India, but she and Bangladesh’s teenage pacer, Marufa Akter, were amongst the bowlers with the lowest economy.
The ongoing Asia Cup is the rehearsal for the World Cup, at least for four teams from the continent. If the opening match for India and Pakistan in Sri Lanka was any indication, where former dominated in all aspects, Vastrakar has made sure she has put her hat in the ring to take the new ball in the World Cup. Such has been her impact with the ball that she bowled in all seven fixtures in India’s multi-format series against South Africa and also took the Player of the Series in the T20I leg.
“I think it’s just brilliant to watch her,” India’s vice captain Smriti Mandhana had praised the bowler after the final T20I. “The way she bowled on the flat wicket and for her to come back with those sorts of figures, it was amazing. Hopefully, she keeps doing the same thing again. She’ll be really crucial going into the World Cup.”
While spinners did take five wickets against Pakistan and Thakur was the more economical pacer, Vastrakar did her job while giving away 13 runs and taking two wickets in the powerplay. Pakistan were no match for India as the defending champions registered a 7-wicket win. Brief scores: Pakistan 108 in 19.2 ovs (Deepti 3/20, Vastrakar 2/31) lost to India 109/3 in 14.1 ovs (Mandhana 45, Shafali 40).