With the Women’s T20 World Cup around the corner, India could not have asked for a better start to their preparations, as they thumped England by 38 runs in the first T20I in Chelmsford. England have lost just three of their 15 T20Is at that venue and in a way, India managed to breach England’s fortress in a way.
Without Harmanpreet Kaur, India were a little weak in the middle-order. Her absence would have hurt more when India’s trusted opening partnership made no impact whatsoever. Despite Smriti Mandhana being dismissed off the first ball, India managed to post a formidable 188 on the board- their third-highest total against England.
Mandhana and Shafali Verma have been dominant at the top of the order for India in the last couple of years. Since the end of the last T20 World Cup, no opening pair has scored more runs than them.
Most partnership runs post 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup (Among full-members)
716 Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma (IND)
647 Beth Mooney, Georgia Voll (AUS)
584 Gaby Lewis, Amy Hunter (IRE)
478 Modester Mupachikwa, Kelis Ndhlovu (ZIM)
411 Sune Luus, Laura Wolvaardt (SA)
In fact, in the same timeline, no batter has a better strike rate than Shafali in T20Is, while Mandhana too is among the top six. Not to forget, they also have 13 scores in excess of 50 between them, making them a truly deadly duo at the top.
Highest strike rate post 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup (Min: 500 runs)
159.01 Shafali Verma (IND)
147.3 Amelia Kerr (NZ)
146.42 Esha Oza (UAE)
143.7 Laura Wolvaardt (SA)
143.27 Beth Mooney (AUS)
140.77 Smriti Mandhana (IND)
However, on May 28 (Thursday), they managed to score just two runs off four deliveries between them. For someone who has been as consistent as they have over the last two years, it was certainly a blow for India. However, that paved the way for the middle-order to step in.
Jemimah Rodrigues (69 off 40) and Yastika Bhatia (54 off 40) put on 126 off just 76 deliveries to put India back on top. In fact, so dominant was Yastika that she was on 40 off just 17 at the end of the powerplay, but then played second fiddle to Jemimah post that, which took her strike rate down.
While T20 cricket is largely about those big hits to the fence, game awareness is crucial. That’s exactly what the southpaw showed and the team was rewarded as a result.
Speaking of Jemimah, she has been among the best middle-order batters recently. She has two fifties from her last seven innings and also has a 36 and 43 against a formidable South African unit. She has been the glue who has held the team together, and in Harmanpreet’s absence, she stepped up to the plate. Her 69 was the highest score by a non-opening Indian batter against England and it came at a time when her side had lost their openers in the first over of the match.
Special win at Chelmsford
What makes this batting performance even better is that it came against some of the top bowlers in the world, including Sophie Ecclestone, Issy Wong and Lauren Bell.
Moreover, India went in with a relatively inexperienced bowling line-up, including handing a debut to pacer Nandini Sharma. She delivered with three wickets, including that of Amy Jones, who smashed 67 off just 48. With Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Singh Thakur and Radha Yadav awaiting their turn, it seems as though India have found depth in their bench as they have always wanted.
Not to forget, their skipper, Harmanpreet, too, will be back soon, and that makes the team even stronger.
India have South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and debutants Netherlands to contend with in the group stages of the World Cup. How they fare in the next two matches against England could prove to be vital. Another couple of solid performances could see India as firm contenders to lift their maiden T20 World Cup title on July 5 at Lord’s.
They lifted the ODI World Cup last year to get the monkey off their backs and the only thing that can add a cherry on top of that is claiming the T20 World Cup title as well. Not sure if Harmanpreet’s girls have been better equipped to complete the double.
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