DUBAI: Recently, researchers in Germany discovered an old piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the most recognised and prominent music composers of the Classical era almost 233 years after his death. The newly discovered “Serenade in C” is a work made up of seven miniature pieces for a string trio - which means it needs three artists to come together and be in sync to play it.
For India, at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday evening against Sri Lanka, Mozart was never going to inspire as such, but just like the newly discovered piece, India needed a specific trio to stand up. To make the maximum impact possible in the group of death where only minimum slip-ups were allowed.
Heading into the fixture, there were two most important problems India were facing. Their opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma was not clicking and they needed a net run-rate boost to remain in the contest. The criticism about not going after Pakistan's small total was immense and to add to that, captain Harmanpreet Kaur had dropped to number four in that fixture after playing at three in the run-up to the marquee event. Problems were aplenty.
The opening pair has a reputation for being one of the most explosive duos in the women's game. After the Australian pair of Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy, they have the most runs in partnership for the opening wicket. If Mandhana's backfoot play is one of the best in the world, one cannot set a field when Verma is firing on all cylinders. They have done it before for India and it was high time they showed up as a duo.
Then there is Kaur. A look at her previous hits at the ICC events would tell you that if Kaur has not already performed at the tournament, she is always circling around in search of that one knock. One can assure you that most likely, it would come at the most crucial time in the tournament.
Whether it was her 171 not out against Australia in England or it was her T20I century against New Zealand in the 2018 T20 World Cup. If Kaur had not already given a blockbuster, be rest assured that a knock is coming. In Dubai, that is what happened on Wednesday. The trio had to click. There was no other option. And they did.
It started with Mandhana and Verma finding their vintage self in the powerplay. It was not as gung ho from the get go as the world is used to, but it was definitely as tame as what the crowd witnessed against Pakistan. It took Verma the third over to finally find the rope against Udeshika Prabodhani's pace.
The 20-year-old continued her way to become the youngest player to score 2000 T20I runs in the next over, but today, personal milestones were not on the agenda. Mandhana followed to show 'intent'. By the end of the powerplay, India had 41 runs on the board. Not like one of the greatest hits form Mozart, but this was significant work nonetheless.
Straight out of the powerplay, Mandhanan hit India's first six of the tournament off Inoka Ranaweera's bowling. It took them a third fixture to do so, but Mandhana was in her groove. The opposition captain Chamari Athapaththu did everything in her capacity to slow the scoring rate down. From constantly changing the fields to even taking the ball herself. Nothing helped Sri Lanka.
Their massive win against the same opposition a few months ago felt like a memory from different times. Determined Mandhana pulled her way to her first fifty of the tournament, but lost her way trying to go for a second run that was never there. Verma, who played second fiddle to the vice captain followed the suit, making room for Kaur to start her show.
What followed was a vintage Kaur show with the bat. Even when she lost Jemimah Rodrigues for 16, there was no stopping the captain. That world-feared clean-as-a-whistle hitting gave her most of the runs, but the running between the wickets with Richa Ghosh at the other end was 'all gas no breaks.' As a result, 59 runs came in the final five overs of the first innings, taking India to 172/3. "That was old Harman Preet Kaur we witnessed today," said former captain Mithali Raj in the commentary and she wasn't wrong. Sri Lanka were blown away by the trio at their own game and eventually went down by 82 runs — biggest margin of win for India in T20 World Cups.
Mozart, if he would have been a fan of the T20 game, would have loved what India's top 3 dished out today. While the tournament is still very much open, nothing is certain for India. But for now, they added one more chapter to their vintage mixtape under lights in Dubai.
Brief scores: India 172/3 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 50, Shafali Verma 43, Harmanpreet Kaur 52 not out) bt Sri Lanka 90 all out in 19.5 overs (Asha Sobhana 3/19, Arundhati Reddy 3/19) by 82 runs.