The Women in Blue have had an exciting outing in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, with teams putting up spirited performances. But for the Indian team, the clash with New Zealand is going to prove tricky since their combined effort fails to compensate since star batter Smriti Mandhana, among others, is not delivering up to the mark. Let’s look at these three players who have not been too effective in this match.
2024 Women’s T20 World Cup
1. Smriti Mandhana
One of the most consistent players in India, Smriti Mandhana has been a source of hope for India over the years. She presents a good start and can stabilize the innings, and hence is India’s batting core backbone. Again, against New Zealand in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, Mandhana failed to live up to her reputation as there was high pressure upon her.
Opener and the opening batswoman looked a bit tentative right from the word go against New Zealand’s decent bowling line-up. Not able to rotate the strike and not being able to find those much-needed boundaries, Mandhana was sent back pretty early, and India found itself on the back foot. And her dismissal pretty early up had an impact down the batting order as well, as they found it quite hard to get back in.
Sad was Mandhana’s underperformance since she had one of the bigger experience and expectation factors of this side. A good start to the game mattered much to India, but her failure to perform even managed to put plenty of pressure on the middle order, which, in the end, led to India’s downfall.
2. Shafali Verma
Shafali Verma used to bat aggressively. She mostly scored her runs rapidly down the order. There was a possibility her fearless batting could change the match for India, but it was the risk that came alive in the game against New Zealand.
Verma tried to take the New Zealand bowlers through early on but lacked the cut or cover drives, which were not well timed. Trying her best to force her way through, she ended up playing a rash shot that brought her downfall. Instead of pacing her innings or doing the right thing according to the situation of the pitch, her eagerness to score quickly backfired, with India losing another early wicket.
Her premature departure not only denied the Indian innings its much-needed flow but also exposed the middle order to the bowler’s mercy much before it was anticipated. Like every explosive talent batswoman, there was immense pressure upon Verma, but on this day of the match for the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, her aggression was as perilous for herself as it was for her teammates.
3. Deepti Sharma
Deepti Sharma, the trusted all-rounder of India, had often turned the game with bat and ball. But, in the battle of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 against New Zealand, it was the bowling that failed to give much desired results. Known for her accurate offspin, Sharma was struggling to get the rhythm throughout the match.
The New Zealand batters capitalize on her inconsistency, finding gaps and scoring boundaries off her deliveries. Though she has tried to put pressure through variations, Sharma’s failure to control the run flow definitely left India behind. Sharma did not take any critical wickets and was expensive in her spell, which left room for New Zealand to build partnerships and a competitive total.
This was disappointing cricket, particularly from Sharma, who must be one of the most reliable acts of bowling for India in the T20 format. India never really pushed New Zealand back after Sharma went wicketless.
Conclusion
The 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup has been a very tough journey so far for the Indians, and a defeat to New Zealand exposed several issues. There is a simply huge reason why India lost—the big guns Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, and Deepti Sharma did not perform up to their level. Players will have to quickly recover and correct mistakes; they should be able to pick up from where they left off last time to battle back for India and stay alive in this tournament.
