Women’S world T20: India looks to iron out combination flaws against Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India will have to regroup quickly and iron out the imbalances in team combination when it faces arch-rival Pakistan in a crucial second group A match of the Women’s T20 World Cup here on Sunday.

An early 58-run defeat to New Zealand on Friday has not just dented India’s chances of entering the semifinals of the ICC showpiece, but it certainly has pushed it to a tight corner.

India’s run-rate currently stands at a poor -2.99 and it makes big victories mandatory for it in the remaining three matches against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side was wretched in all three departments of the game against the Kiwis in its World Cup opener, and India now needs a reversal within 24 hours.

It’s tough but that is the path it has to tread against Pakistan, high on confidence after beating a strong Sri Lanka in the first match on Thursday.

As a first step, India will have to sort out its combinations ahead of the Pakistan game.

It went a batter light against New Zealand to accommodate an extra pacer in Arundhati Reddy and it meant a wholescale rejigging of the line-up.

It forced the promotion of Harmanpreet to No. 3, Jemimah Rodrigues to No, 4 and Richa Ghosh to No.5, not the usual slots for these batters.

For instance, Harmanpreet, who is a solid presence at No. 4, has never made a fifty in her previous 19 gigs at No.3 and to make her play precisely at that position in a World Cup was quixotic.

The inclusion of three pacers was not a wrong move in hindsight as there was no dew and the Kiwis pacers made full use of a hard deck.

But India made a hash of its three-pronged pace attack move, giving just one over to Pooja Vastrakar, the third-best bowler in T20Is this year with 20 wickets from 16 matches.

Also, the decision to go with the pace troika cost India the presence of left-arm spinner Radha Yadav, its second most successful T20I bowler with 22 wickets from 13 matches.

So, head coach Amol Muzumdar will need to take a long look at the combination as another defeat will seriously hamper India’s chances of progressing to the last-four stage from Group A.

But stats apart, India, particularly batters, looked mentally frozen against the Kiwis, evidenced by the highest individual score in its innings – a 15 by Harmanpreet.

In that context, India might just think of adding Dayalan Hemalatha to bolster the batting.