CHENNAI: THE last time India women played an ODI in England, it became the talk of the cricketing world. Deepti Sharma ran out Charlie Dean to secure a 3-0 clean sweep as Harmanpreet Kaur and her team gave Jhulan Goswami a fairytale farewell at Lord's in September 2022. That series marked a new beginning for India women under Harmanpreet without both Mithali Raj and Goswami. It was, in many ways, the starting point of the road to the 2025 ODI World Cup to be played in India later this year.
Three years on, Kaur and her team are back in England. They have won the T20I series and now have three ODIs in front of them which will allow them to tick some final boxes as they prepare for the quadrennial event. In this time, India have lost to Australia, both home and away, twice, beaten Ireland, West Indies, South Africa, drew with Bangladesh and won a tri-series in Sri Lanka.
The likes of Pratika Rawal, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol and Richa Ghosh have raised their game to assist Smriti Mandhana and Kaur as India have found some balance in their batting department. Kaur credits the players for their performance while insisting that the role clarity has helped them settle down. "I think right now everything looks quite settled and everybody knows their roles, what they're going to do and their positions. I think a lot of clarity is there comparatively to what we had previously. I think as a team and as a player, that's very important when you are playing for a country, you always want to know your roles, your clarity," she said in a press conference on Monday. "After a long time, we're having a healthy headache of having to pick the best team. Earlier, we didn't have so many options. Credit to Shafali (Verma) and Pratika for the kind of performances they've put in. Even Harleen, whenever she's got the opportunity, she has shown she can also take the responsibility for the team. I think all credit goes to our team and our staff. Everybody is giving that clarity to the players," she added.
While the batting department looks settled, the same cannot be said about India's bowling, especially the pacers. Arundhati Reddy and Amanjot Kaur have made the most of their chances so far, but Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar have been out of the team with injuries. There has been a fair bit of shuffle with spinners too. Sneh Rana has made a comeback or two, Radha Yadhav has found form, N Shree Charani has made it to the Indian team among several other newcomers. Over the three ODIs, the 'A' team's tour to Australia and the ODIs against 2022 World champs at home, India will look to finalise their bowling attack.
The first step towards that begins in Southampton on Wednesday as India take on England in the first ODI. "A lot of playing 11 combinations are in our mind and we are still training. We have to see the pitch. And if the best combination suits the team, we will go with it," the India captain said. "I think when we are batting, we want to look for more than 300 runs on the board. And when we are bowling, we will make sure that we have good bowling options so that there is no extra pressure on any bowler. Because we know that anyone can have a bad day here and there. We should have another option who can help us to be in the game. So I think we will try to get more options in bowling also," she added.
In 2022, Harmanpreet led from the front with the bat, including a century at Canterbury. Who will rise to the occasion and deliver for India in the coming days, time will tell.
