CHENNAI: Smriti Mandhana had just smacked Annabel Sutherland into the stands. It was the second ball of the 22nd over at the New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur. On the previous delivery, her opening partner Pratika Rawal had got to her fifty as the scoreboard read 114/0 in 21.2 overs.
Till that point, Australia had tried Megan Schutt, Kim Garth, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham and Ellyse Perry but none of them had been able to break the opening partnership. Rawal had provided solidity at one end with Mandhana becoming the aggressor.
Despite the minimal margin of error from Australian bowlers, India's opening duo had ensured the run-rate was on par, picking up boundaries at will; until the next delivery. Mandhana pushed Sutherland towards covers and went for a quick single only to be turned back by Rawal. She got run out for 58, for the third time since the duo started opening, and Australia had their opening.
As they have over the last year or so, India sent in Harleen Deol ahead of Harmanpreet Kaur or Jemimah Rodrigues. Rawal and Deol, not big runners between the wickets, tried to make sure that India did not lose any wicket soon. When an early wicket falls, it seems like a prudent strategy, but that was not the case here. India had laid the platform on what was a good pitch for batting, they went back to second gear.
Till the 21st over, the run-rate was 5.09 but in the next nine overs, they managed 35 runs with the overall run-rate dropping to 4.73. Boundaries stopped coming, as Rawal and Deol played 31 dot balls out of 52 they faced since Mandhana fell. Now, this is nothing new. It is the way they both bat. Both Rawal and Deol take their time to settle in before accelerating. While it might work with the right batting partner, both together in the middle meant India stagnated.
And that is not something one would want to do against a team like Australia. All the pressure meant Rawal tried to take on Alana King and fell. Kaur's front foot plant came back to cost her, leaving Deol under the pump. From 26 off 39 balls, she upped the run-rate smashing 28 in the next 17. When she eventually fell, her score read 54 off 57, but by then India had slowed down significantly, leaving ten overs to bat for Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh. With not much time to settle in, the duo fell against the run of play as India finished with 281/7 in the end.
On any given day, it might look like a good total to defend, but context is everything. The pitch here was getting only better to bat and Australia has a depth like no other team in the world. Add the fact that India went in with five specialist bowlers — one seamer and four spinners — their score now looked below par. It ended up being the case, the dropped catches sure did not help, as Australia had no trouble taking a 0-1 lead.
"We were 20 or 30 runs short with the bat, our bowlers tried to create opportunities and we couldn't grab on the field. We could've been more positive with the bat, 30 or 40 more runs, would've been tough for them. We will try with whatever we have in the side, it was the best combination for us. Last series, against England, the spinners did well. As a fielding unit, we couldn't capitalise today,' Kaur said after the match.
For India, who have stuck to the top five batters in the last 12 months, there is still time to realise the need to be flexible and make sure a batter who is keen to rotate strike remains in the middle. Whether that is keeping Deol in the XI but her position flexible or bring in someone like Amanjot Kaur (when she is fully fit) to have the extra cushion with the ball and in the middle-order is up to the team management. They have two more games against Australia and the warm-up fixtures to get the combination right before the World cup begins.
Brief scores: India 281/7 in 50 ovs (Rawal 64, Mandhana 58, Deol 54; Schutt 2/45) lost to Australia 282/2 in 44.1 ovs (Litchfield 88, Mooney 77 n.o, Sutherland 54 n.o).
