One of the most striking issues that has been apparent throughout the T20I series between India Women and Australia Women has been the poor performance of the Indian top-order batters, of which one notable phenomenon has been that of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s dismal form of batting.
Harmanpreet’s numbers across the last handful of T20Is and ODIs have been abysmal, and now poses itself as a big issue for an already seemingly-brittle top-order. In her last five T20 international matches, she has not once reached the double-digit run mark, and the Indian skipper has been maintaining an average of less than 18 runs in her last 8 T20Is.
In a desperate time during the 3rd T20I vs Australia when India was in dire need of stability from the batting order after losing two wickets in quick succession, Harmanpreet entered the crease.
But, the skipper’s unfortunate and disappointing run of form continued as she was dismissed for a mere 3 runs off 6 balls, as she played herself onto the stumps off a slower delivery from the Player of the Match, Annabel Sutherland, and left her team in jeopardy.
For a bit more context, let us take a look at the last 5 scores notched up by the Indian skipper in T20Is for India.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s Last 5 Scores in T20Is
3 vs Australia on January 9 in Navi Mumbai
6 vs Australia on January 7 in Navi Mumbai
6 not out vs England on December 10, 2023 in Mumbai
9 vs England on December 9, 2023 in Mumbai
26 vs England on December 6, 2023 in Mumbai
This only adds to the conundrum that coach Amol Mazumdar has been facing with respect to understanding the best possible squad for India in white-ball cricket.
But, bear in mind, the fault is not only on Harmanpreet, but the top-order as a whole. In both of their last two matches where Australia won, India’s top-order has failed to set the middle-order up miserably.
Irregular spurts of scoring from both openers, followed by consecutive under-utilization of the batting powerplay in both instances, all to be topped off with the over-reliance on India’s middle-order batters such as the likes of Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh to lead them to safety has been nothing short of a recipe for disaster.
And disaster is what followed as India lost both matches in some embarrassing fashion, and lost the three-match series 2-1 to the rampant Australia.
This loss marks their inability to defeat the Aussies in India since their last and only series win against them coming way back in 2016.
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